


In The Pursuit Of Happiness

by Travis_Crux



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon, Canon Compliant, Canon Era, Depression, Drama, Drama & Romance, F/M, Friendship/Love, How Do I Tag, In pursuit of larry, Investigating, Larry Stylinson Is Real, Love, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Niall be the best, OT5, Reunions, Romance, Ziam is real too! Duh!, larry stylinson - Freeform, ziam
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-08
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-01-31 02:50:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 43,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12666741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Travis_Crux/pseuds/Travis_Crux
Summary: "Then what do we do now?" Lottie questioned Zayn with a grim expression clouding her face.The Raven haired man grinned pleasingly and gave a simple statement,"We find them."It had been four long years since Harry and Louis had packed their bags and left the world without a trace.Leaving behind Modest!Leaving behind their acquired fame.Leaving behind their music.Holding only one another's hand, they had disappeared into the dark wilderness which seldom left way for travelers.Now four years later when a tiny ray of hope spots the two missing popstars in Yountville, their three band mates have firmly decided that this break was sufficiently enough, they launch a tiny search mission which becomes a widespread movement.This is the search for those two best friends who left them with desperation laced in their arms.This is the search for those two band mates who they had seen the pinnacle of success less than a feet away with.This is the search for finding them.Their friends.Their band mates.Their brothers.This is the search for Larry Stylinson.





	1. Chapter One

Liam glared at his reflection in the mirror, quietly contemplating the deafening silence which surrounded his ears. Silence. That's what flanked him nowadays and that's what stayed with him most of the time too. He'd just been escorted to his backstage room an hour back, the buzz in and around the arena remained but the nostalgic quietness persisted effortlessly. Niall wasn't here. LouisandHarry weren't here. It's funny how even after so many years, he couldn't think of separating their names even in a sentence, it just came so naturally. HarryandLouis, just like ZaynandLiam had once upon a time. But that's why it has remained once upon a time in the last four years.

He could still not comprehend it had almost been over four years. Four years since HarryandLouis left. Four years since One Direction had dissolved into thin air. Four years since he became a solo artist. Four years since, he took a deep breath, Zayn left to venture out the new possibilities of a solo career, abandoning them, abandoning him in the middle of a tour, in between a song, in between life.

Glancing at his watch, he noticed it was almost time to go on stage. 

Casting Zayn's thoughts away from his already clouded head, he sighed and walked out of his changing rooms towards the stage. Another day. Another night. Another concert being just Liam Payne and not One Direction.

When the concert did conclude, he followed the same routine and moved backstage, met fans, pictures, signed autographs and went back to an empty house in an empty car, most of them time Niall joined him backstage because he clearly knew that even if it is four years or four centuries there isn't one day, he doesn't reminiscence Zayn and the band together. 

Sighing, Liam unlocked his phone to see, missed calls. Many missed calls. His mum, Niall, Simon, Gemma, Lottie, Jay, Anne even Zayn had rung up to him. Dialling Niall's number, he waited for the other side to come alive.

"Hello?" Niall's familiar voice greeted him with a sense of urgency. "Check the news quick. The paparazzi have spotted Harry and Louis in Yountville. We're already on the airport, come over, I have your stuff." And the call ended, it was over in the blink of a second. Niall was generally not a haste person and this was not a scenario to keep your calm either. 

He opened the celebrity news page which had pictures of Louis and Harry exiting a restaurant. A feeling of unease spreading through his body. It was unmistakably them. Harry still had the same dead locks which were cleanly put up into a quiff having them gently cascade on his shoulder, he had his arm casually draped around Louis shoulder, assuring that his body pressed Harry's person. Louis had his head buried into his partner's chest showing only the back of his head. His hair which was put up into a high pony tail. This grabbed Liam's attention. Louis had grown his hair. His hair was longer than Harry's, considering the pony tail touched the base of his neck. He continued to scroll down to see another few pictures clicked besides this one. It had Harry and Louis just exiting the French Laundry in Yountville. The next one had Harry hugging Louis right before the blue entrance and kissing the top of his head and then leading the way gently. The last photo had them getting seated in the car and here he could notice Louis' face which was clearly upset. Tears brimming in his eyes while the picture was taken. 

And that was it. That was all there was. After looking at these pictures, he had a sudden urge to reach the airport faster. Even if there was a remote chance to find them. Find them and bring them home. He would take it. 

And that was what led him to be seated on Zayn's plane which Liam had no clue, he owned. It had been a tense situation at the airport. Seemingly. Zayn and Liam had confronted each other after four entire years. They had avoided each other like the plague since the split. Zayn, as soon as was made aware about spotting Louis and Harry in Yountville, had quickly arranged for transportation and generously offered it to both of them too which Niall on his behalf willingly accepted.

The tension in the air had been so slick that he could almost taste it. Zayn had been seated right across him. And Liam couldn't take his eyes off him. They were glued to him in a literal sense of way. Zayn hadn't changed all except for the nose ring, perhaps. His raven hair, his smooth raven hair which he had a driving urge to just run his fingers through. His pink fluff lips which had grazed his body so many times under the dark blue sky of perhaps every lovely city they had visited in their rise to fame. Though he'd avoided him so much on the past years, he'd kept an account of what was going on in his life, the most recent being his break up with Gigi.

When they arrived in Yountville before dawn, the concerned officers said, there was absolutely no sign of HarryandLouis anywhere. According to them the car had driven them directly to the nearest airport and from there, both of them and the car just vanished. Surprisingly, there was absolutely no record of them entering or exiting the airport on camera either. 

The trio after the declaration, had decided to stay in Yountville and wait for a little bit more obvious evidence from the authorities and do a little research of their own which was why they resorted to halting themselves in the place.

***

Liam woke up with a little less of peace and a little more noise sprinkled around his surroundings. He woke up to the annoyed screams of Zayn Malik outside his room. 

When he sat up, he saw Niall sitting on the sofa, drinking tea clearly bothered by the obscenities the ex-band member was using with the person he was conversing with. 

"What's happening?" He asked massaging his temples. 

"Well, The French Laundry clearly asked Zayn to back off when he asked them personally if he could see the camera footage and at least know who made the reservation. So he decided to sue them. Turns out, it didn't work as efficiently as it was supposed to." Niall supplied and then let out a sigh. "We didn't really get any sort of lead in the morning. The police officers are just being extremely uncooperative for what reason, we don't know."

Louis glanced at the wall clock, it was noon. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"Zayn suggested," Niall began absent mindedly but then bit his tongue, looking at Liam sheepishly who rolled his eyes, he continued,"he said since you had the concert, you could get some sleep while we do the dirty work."

Liam pursed his lips with a grim expression taking over his face at the mention of Zayn and dragged himself up to the bathroom, carefully ignoring the screams in the back ground. 

After getting dressed, he saw that Niall was already packing up. "We're leaving back to LA." He informed. 

"Apparently they've been bought I guess and all of them," he said annoyed and threw a shirt into his back pack," The French Laundry, the cops who were helping us until today morning, they've just turned sides."

"What do you mean?"

"Check it out yourself, they're right outside."

Liam did so and joined the conversation between Zayn and them. "Sir, we've done all we could, The French Laundry is an exclusive restaurant which cannot give any information unless absolutely necessary."

"This is a case of absolute necessity, they've been missing!" Zayn reasoned. He looked so tired with makeup not able to hide all the bags, he had under his eyes with skin seeming like it had lost its radiance due to whatever he was dealing with. Liam's heart pumped with worry but casually discarded it.

"Sir, as much as we'd like to help you," the officer said with a stood undertone,"according to what I know, your friends have left you with their permission in sound state of mind."

"We don't care!" Zayn snapped. "We want to find where they are."

"I'm sorry sir but we are under strict orders that since this isn't a kidnapping or a missing case, we're not allowed to participate to help you anymore." The man beside him said. 

Zayn gave him a death glare with the narrowing of his eyebrows,"You guys have been bought. And I will fucking know who did that." He accused him immediately. 

"We're sorry sir but orders are specific so we don't have a choice." He said sternly and then added. "If you insist on making this difficult for yourself, we'd suggest you to lower your voice before we arrest you."

Zayn looked at the guy with anger pooling down in his eyes and that was the moment when Liam stepped in. "Thank you officers." They nodded and quietly exited the scene while Zayn locked his eyes with Liam for a very brief moment. Very brief. With a feeling of unease residing between them they returned back to the cottage. 

***

***

Seated in his plane, quietly wondering where did he fuck up four years back that Louis and Harry weren't here. With them. Zayn had tried his best to keep the band from falling out, he had walked that extra mile nobody knew about. Not even Liam. He made a choice which severely effected their relationship, the stability of the band, he'd gambled his dignity away, his relationship with the four of them.

It still clouds his mind when he reminisces that day. Four years prior.

The five of them had been called for an emergency meeting by Griffiths and Magee on a morning earlier than any. Still in their pyjamas, Zayn and Liam met Niall before the conference room. Nodding at one another, they entered the room and noticed HarryandLouis already seated on the sofa. 

__

__

"What's up lads?" Niall questioned placing himself beside them. 

Louis sat up straight, withdrawing his head from Harry's chest, staring at the floor aimlessly. 

"Finally, the five of you are here." Griffiths walked in with Magee following him and surprisingly, even Simon Cowell accompanied them. 

"Yesterday's interview," Griffiths began slowly with a disappointing sigh,"has strengthened the Larry Stylinson rumor."

Zayn slowly stole a glance at LouisandHarry who had their expressions frozen with contempt. Louis was still avoiding any sort of eye contact and had Harry's arm draped around him while Harry bore his stoic expressions into the outside world.

"So to cut off these rumors, we have to divert the attention of the fans," Magee restrarted once again, "through a paternity scandal."

"A what!?" Liam asked appalled by the suggestion.

"A paternity scandal Mr. Payne." Griffiths spat. 

"But why?!" Niall questioned not able to grasp the reasoning of the men before him, "It's a big thing, just to ward away rumors?"

"Well, Mr Horan, your pals," he scowled, gesturing to the men," just can't keep their eyes of one another and that's why, we have to project this out so that the image of the band in public is not jeopardized."

Liam immediately interjected,"I don't really think our sales is dependent on our faces anymore, we have bloody talent! A bloody paternity scandal is too much just to cover up that they love each other!"

"That's where you're absolutely wrong, Mr Payne. Your sales are very much dependent on this."

"And who is the one going to go through all this?" Zayn asked with disbelief etched on his face features.

"Louis." Griffiths answered. 

"It makes more sense if I do it instead." Harry spoke breaking his vow of silence. "I'm the womanizer, anyway." 

"We have already told you Harry, you can't be involved in any scandal, you're the face of the band." 

"Harry," Liam turned disregarding Magee's explanation,"how are you even agreeing to this?"

"What do you want me to do Liam?!" Harry snapped at him. "Stage up a rebellion!?"

"Cuz believe me I fucking tried and it didn't play out the way I wanted it to!" He scowled with his voice risen and poison laced through it. "They're gonna make us do it anyway, I don't see the point in arguing." 

Harry ran his hands through his hair and turned to Griffiths,"I'm doing it or it's not happening. Louis has gone through enough."

"Boys, boys," Simon iterated trying to diffuse a little bit of tension in the air but Zayn knew better, he just wanted to manipulate the situation to their leverage, "think about it this way-"

"-shut up Simon." Harry cut him off with a sneer. "I'm done listening to the same bullshit in a different format. It is the same crap. So stuff it."

Zayn's eyes widened at Harry's acquired boldness and turned to him to see Louis holding his hand, indirectly asking him to stop. 

Simon had his eyebrows arched in surprise that Harry actually had the gall to actually snap at their mentor. 

"If the scandal is going to take place, it is going to happen with me not with Louis." Harry declared. "And if it works in the opposite way, I promise you we'll intentionally grow more difficult to manage."

"Is that a warning, Mr Styles?" Griffiths questioned with his eyes staring daggers into Harry. 

"It's an ultimatum, Griffiths." Harry verified with a serious undertone to his voice. He then turned to Louis and caught his hand, "Come on Louis."

After that, was the longest hour of torture the three of them underwent, Simon, Griffiths and Magee iterated, reiterated along the lines of the band's image, publicity, scandal and making Harry understand this, how important it is for the sales.

When the three of them did leave the conference room, they moved over to Harry's room immediately. 

Knocking gently on the door, they wait for Harry to answer, he opens the door almost immediately letting them in. "I'm sorry for shouting at you Li." He apologized as soon as they walked in. 

"What's wrong with Louis?" Zayn asked looking at the sleeping form of the brown haired boy. 

"He is running a fever and a headache since yesterday." Harry informed them and gestured them to the sofa. Liam placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "What happened?" He asked gently. "You never lash out on anybody."

Harry took his place on the sofa and threw his head back. "After the interview, I was supposed to be with Kendall for the night and I was with her."

"But in between everything, I got a call from Louis and he asked me to come back to the hotel room. And I went back." He narrated and then paused for awhile, inhaling a sharp breath, "Louis was in tears when I returned, he had been crying for god alone knows how long. He has never cried, no matter what they made us do, no matter how tough it got. According to what he told me, Louis got called in after the interview."

"And they were manipulating him into the paternity scandal. They told him, if he'd do this, Eleanor and his break up would be very soon and as soon as they clear it off, we'd be allowed to come out." 

"They're telling that since the X factor." Zayn commented. 

"Precisely." Harry confirmed with a shake of his head. "But Louis couldn't bear it, this time. I'm willing to go through this, if it is absolutely necessary."

Zayn stole a glance at Niall and Liam, shifted uncomfortably in their seats,"Harry." Liam began slowly. "Magee said you don't have to go through the paternity scandal."

"If?" Harry prompted, knowing there would be an additional clause.

Niall sighed. "If one of us end up in drug bust."

"What!?" Harry asked leaning forward. 

"Niall agreed to it." Liam added.

"Then disagree!" Harry snapped immediately. 

Niall nodded his head in a manner,"No, I want to do something for you guys."

"It's not happening!" Harry hissed. "I've tried so hard to not let this thing come to you. I don't want you guys to go through the shit we're going through! I'm not gonna let it happen."

"You can't protect everyone, Harry." Niall smiled at him sadly. 

And with that Zayn was brought back into reality with the buzzing of his phone. It was a message from his manager. Sending a quick text in response, he returned to gazing outside the window at the clear blue sky wistful of the serenity he had lost, silently mourning the death of their friendship.


	2. Chapter Two

When they returned to LA, Zayn had initiated a meeting a few days later, calling Lottie, Gemma, Niall and Liam. 

It happened in Zayn's house, extremely discreet, away from public eye.

Seated amongst the light coffee brown walls, the air in Zayn's house smelt of freshly scented lavenders splashed with a little bit of citrus which resulted in an oddly pleasing smell. Gemma noticed that Zayn in particular was restless, seated in his own house, he was fidgeting a lot with his leather jacket which he wore and then finally cleared his throat.

"I think it's high time, we launch a search for them. Yes?" Zayn initiated glancing at everyone in the hall.

Lottie looked up at Zayn, "Are you sure they even wanna be found?"

"If they didn't, they would have been extra careful while coming to the French Laundry." Niall pointed out while leaning back on the sofa. Zayn nodded to his friend's observation and thoughtfully added, "Along with that, I think four years is enough amount of time, don't you think?"

Gemma and Lottie looked at one another, looking both unconvinced and longing at the same time, turning back towards the boys." Where do we start?" 

After a lot of careful and deliberate conversation, with rounds of plans laid out, it was clear that Zayn had thought about this since a very long time but even though the accuracy was appreciable, there was no guarantee they'd give results. 

Zayn had put forth a very simple yet smart plan, he'd nodded his head and narrated his plot," Since, Li, Niall and I in August and coincidentally all of us are holding a charity based concert in a response to support the LGBT community."

Liam and Niall quietly nodded their heads in agreement to Zayn's fact. "So," he continued his outline,"basically we can name the concerts Stylinson, like all of our concerts have the same name."

"What'll that do?" Niall questioned immediately. 

"Patience," Zayn responded calmly," basically half the fan base of one direction still supports us as a band." He elucidated. Zayn was consciously proceeding at a very slow pace so that everyone would carefully grasp the crux of his plan and looking at every single person present in his house excluding Liam. "Apparently, tumblr, twitter and all these other places where usually the discussions about 'Larry Stylinson' would take place aren't happening for the obvious reason that Liam and Niall confirmed it four years back and Harry and Louis aren't here anymore."

"So if we put it out in the public that we are planning of launching a search team for both of them, it'll fuel them up more."

"But how is it going to help us in any manner?" Lottie questioned understanding his plan but not able to catch how it is going to help them find her brothers.

"Lottie, if you've noticed, you would've seen that the speculation of 'Larry Stylinson' was not done by Harry or Louis, they'd behave completely normal and the fans would catch on to it. They'd send out cryptic messages or pictures and the fans would figure it out. They'd colour coordinate themselves and the fans would say that the relationship which the three of us didn't know about, exists." Zayn explained. "Basically the fans are a more efficient analyst team and are more capable at finding things out than most of the security teams. We aren't talking about a few people here, we're talking about an entire army of fans who'll willingly help us with the tiniest amount of small proof or evidence we have." 

Zayn twitched in his seat and then sighed, continuing, "If that happens, the Larry Stylinson tag will be revived, they'll start posting again and if we've asked the fandom publicly to help us, they'll do it and if it doesn't help us anywhere, it is at least a start somewhere which will hopefully maneuver us in the direction of HarryandLouis."

Gemma nodded her head immediately, all she wanted was to find her younger brother, as soon as possible. "It is a start and it makes sense Zee." She said looking up at him. Niall looked at Zayn and said on response, "We should do this." 

A wave of agreement passed through the room, resonating the air of consent while Gemma's eyes remained stuck to the cold marble flooring of the popstar's house. A feeling of uncertainty was overwhelming her, she didn't know how to actually announce this to the people in the house. Letting out a sigh, she glanced at the people who were discussing this carefully crafted plan of Zayn Malik, "Umm, guys?" Gemma said while clearing her throat, everyone turned towards the source, looking at her, waiting for her to talk. Finally Liam prompted,"Go on Gem."

Gemma raised her eyes from the floor and met the others in the room. "I'm getting married." 

This one statement came upon them like a big rain cloud which burst on their head, the only thing they couldn't figure out was whether it burst on barren land to give life or a river, flooding it completely. After giving in their congratulations, they waited for Gemma to continue talking,"It's happening in April, Holmes Chapel. Is it possible we can find them before that?"

"Lets hope for the best, Gemma." Zayn said hopefully with a smile.

***  
***

The VMAs was not an ordinary award show. In fact it was everything except for ordinary. From bling to gossip, there was everything packed in this one particular evening. The red carpet evening gathered the most important music celebrities of the industry to give a tribute and recognize the one thing which all of them stood on common grounds for, music.

The entire award show was one thing but that wasn't the end of the night, the after party. Massive. Explosive. Gossip filled. After party. There'd be drinks, cameras. There'd be people you know, people you don't know, people who you're supposed to know. There'd be paparazzi who'd be holding up their camera just to catch a glimpse of any tiny wrong, any of the celebrities would do. And that's exactly where Liam was heading to along with Niall.

It had been three weeks since the meeting or gathering at Zayn's house. It made sense, the entire plan but Liam just couldn't get why Zayn thought it was okay to come back, act like nothing happened and behave as if he was the only person who actually cared about HarryandLouis when he was the major reason as to why they left in the first place. Not major but at least instigated it.

When Zayn left, the band was torn. There was already enough tension on board and he just randomly decided to break up with Liam and walk out not only on the band but also the entire tour and the fans. 

Louis and Harry were having a rough patch then, the paternity scandal was being speculated in a very detailed manner. And in between all the tears and the hurt, Zayn just woke up and thought that, 'No, this isn't what I wanna do anymore.' and he left, like a coward. He broke up with Liam on text and the next day they got to know, it was over. It was hard on Liam but harder on Louis. Zayn and Louis had this unsaid sort of secret bond they shared with one another which was extremely strong. Zayn was the one who'd talk sense into him, Zayn was the one who cared the most about Louis after Harry, of course, and it was definitely the other way around too. When he was going through the most toughest moments of his life, one of his closest friends just decided that he did not like the music they made anymore and decided to disappear into thin air.

And that was what pissed Liam the most, how could Zayn forget every thing he did and seem like he genuinely wants to find HarryandLouis!? 

He was a backstabber, he betrayed Louis and Harry's friendship, their trust, the trust of the band and above all, he just walked out of their relationship thinking it would be all right to not give Liam a reason. Liam was sure, he wasn't going to forgive him. In fact he just badly wanted to punch him right in the face if he was provided an opportunity.  
That was when Niall shook his friend from his sea of thoughts when he noticed Zayn approaching them in his perfectly tailored suit with his jet black hair gelled towards the side having his nose ring shining in the blinding lights of the club they were in.

"Do you mind if I join you?"

Niall nodded his head and gave him a seat in between Liam and himself. And if Niall did not regret it a few minutes later, he'd change his name.

***

It made Liam's blood boil sitting next to Zayn, he still had enough consciousness to hate him. Just enough to hate him. But as soon as his sense of mind would leave, when his mind is sufficiently immersed in alcohol when his walls would be down to the ground, he'd tell anybody who'd listen how much he loves Zayn Malik and how he betrayed him. How he stabbed him in love and friendship.

He noticed Niall and Zayn chatting away while he drowned himself in another shot when Niall suddenly received a call from Barbara Palvin, this one girl he'd been pining after for a while and she was playing particularly hard to get, he politely excused himself and noticed Zayn's attention stir in his direction. 

"That's a little too much for you I think," he suggested quietly while Liam continued to drink, ignoring Zayn's recommendation. 

He protracted to drown himself in more alcohol until he literally fell off the chair, after which Zayn helped him, feeling the familiar set of arms up his waist, yanking him. 

"Oh now the boyfriend version of you comes up?" He smirked and pulled himself up, sitting back up on the chair. "Where were you when everything was falling down?"

Trying to keep his calm, he suggested,"Liam, this is not the place or time to discuss this," narrowing his eyebrows, his expression being grim yet so soft. Liam let out a laugh, a cruel, humorless laugh,"It never is Zee. It never was." He snapped at him. " Maybe that's what you thought while breaking it off with me. It's not the time but let's just drop this text because I'm responsible."

Zayn smiled at him, not the smirk but a smile, the smile he used to give when he knew the prank Louis was playing but chose to remain quiet until it was completely executed, the smile he gave when he knew something when everybody else didn't. 

"Liam, you're drunk." He sighed and removed the glass filled with whisky, this time away from Liam's grasp.

"I wish we'd seen it even when HarryandLouis were drunk, in love, for each other. All we did was,we kept giving them mindless assurance that it'll be okay until they finally decided to leave." Liam said with a pinch of theatrics.

"We're gonna find them." Zayn reassured him.

"Oh yeah?" Liam asked sarcastically. "You know what Zayn Malik?" He then huffed. "If you didn't leave, this wouldn't have happened."

"You could've stayed with us." Liam iterated to him, pointing his index finger towards him. And Zayn looked as if someone had forced him to drink vinegar but he didn't interject and let Liam talk. "But you decided that it was more stressful for you than to any of us. You said that you didn't like the music we were making." He added sarcastically and then looked into his brown eyes, "It wasn't the music, Zayn, you were just a coward." Liam told him. "A motherfucking coward who couldn't face anything, who got into the band by chance, who just just faked friendship and brotherhood all the time. You were just a fucking coward!"

"Liam, just because I am quiet, it doesn't warrant you to talk all the shit you wanna talk."

"I don't wanna just talk shit." Liam said and stood up, even though his legs were wobbly but he stood up straight despite his loss in balance and landed a closed fist right on his face.

Zayn closed his eyes and immediately caught his nose,"Ouch, guess I deserved that." He muttered. He landed another punch right on his jaw, knocking Zayn off his chair, pushing him across the bar which resulted in Zayn's face hitting the side and tearing the perfect skin of his cheek, letting the blood flow down the tiny cut but this didn't make Liam stop his string of punches on his ex boyfriend and Zayn didn't retaliate, at all. In just a few minutes, there were flashes and pictures quickly being taken but this didn't prevent Liam from throwing a few more punches until, "Tut tut, always into some hassle or the other aren't you?" A sharp feminine voice questioned. "One Direction."

Liam and Zayn turned their heads to see the disheartening face of Taylor Swift who stood tall in her black high heels with Selena Gomez and her guards surrounding her.  
"Come on now, I've been generous to ward off the paps for a few minutes on Ed's request." She said in a condescending tone, staring down at her perfectly manicured nails. "Not like your fight isn't on the internet already but it's better to decent yourself up a little bit and cover the shreds of dignity you have." She added looking at them with an air of superiority lingering around her like she was doing an enormous task to which they were entitled to be grateful for.

"You know what Swift?" Liam asked with his teeth clasping against on another in sheer anger and annoyance. "Kindly fuck off." He spat at her and whirled towards Zayn. "This is between me and him so we'd settle that."

"I'd actually listen to-" That's all Zayn could tell before Liam punched him again. This time he almost hit his head to the bar stool. The paps were back and so were a few cameras. After repetitive blows and throwing so many people who wanted to intervene between them away, Liam threw one blow which landed Zayn on the floor, momentarily after which, he ended up on top of Zayn screaming, "Coward, fight back!"

But Zayn chuckled in response instead which made Liam pause for a few moments,"It has been four years since we've been in this position." Liam looked at himself, he was sitting on his chest. With his hands, slowly cupping Liam's cheeks which were immediately slapped away by the brown haired man who in this split second of emotional turmoil was lost in the autumn eyes of the singer. Liam pulled himself up and stood quietly still shaking due to the combination of energy exertion and alcohol. 

Zayn closed his eyes and groaned while sitting up,"Come on, pull me up," he said giving his hand up to Liam who took it and pulled him up. Zayn slowly, in a very uncoordinated movement stood up. Looping his arm around Liam's neck, they saw Niall returning with a hurried pace. "What the hell?! Zayn, who did this?!" Clearly appalled by raven haired man's disheveled condition.

Zayn smirked and turned to Liam who looked like, he'd still beat him up, if opportunity presented itself,"We had a bit of a reunion."

Liam rolled his eyes to that. "Come on, help me, Nialler." He ordered who did immediately as he was told so. And got them a seat away from the public eye somewhere quiet, at the back of a club. 

"I'll call my driver," Niall said but glared at them with complete seriousness ,"but please do not kill each other by the time I return!"

"Tell him that." Zayn said with an adoring smile in Liam's direction. 

"Don't kill him." Niall snapped and walked out another time and then added . "I'll send guards."

"We're not kids!" Liam screamed back.

Niall's head popped back in,"Oh yeah? That's why Zayn almost died and tomorrow that's gonna be on the first page of The Sun." Liam just groaned and closed his eyes in frustration at the mention of their most 'favourite' newspaper.

"Listen," Zayn muttered to Liam and nuzzled his neck. 

"What?!" He scowled but didn't remove him from his neck because he loved the way Zayn did this, you could call it a fetish but the way he nuzzled his neck, God and then slowly kissed it. He didn't kiss him though which actually helped Liam to keep a check on his senses which were very close to departure. The concoction of alcohol, his overwhelming emotions and Zayn was a terrible mix which recently led to the bar fight and he didn't want to experiment with that. 

_"Cause you're a sky, 'cause you're a sky full of stars,"_ Zayn sang, in a very low voice while gently placing his hand on Liam's chest. _" I wanna die in your arms. Cause you get lighter the more it gets dark, I'm gonna give you my heart."_ He almost naturally pulled Zayn closer to him, instinctively kissing the top of his head. And this was the moment Zayn felt Liam's walls magically come down, his voice had done some sort of sorcery and Zayn's voice left his lips in the form of words,"I love you so much."

"Why did you do it Zayn? Why did you leave all of us? Was it true what you said? Did you meant it?!" Liam threw in one question after the other rapidly. 

Zayn looked up into his eyes, captivated by the same brown orbs which had, in a very delicate manner taken his world by a storm during the X Factor and regularly every single day after it. "There's so much I have to tell you Liam, so much. It's so complicated." He sighed against his neck. "I've just got you back baby, give me some time, I'll tell you everything."

"You didn't really get me-"

"-shhh." Zayn hissed and went back to nuzzling his neck and then bit the side of his neck.

"Mphhh." Liam whimpered. Zayn shifted to kissing his neck. Gently, he turned and straddled Liam with a little help from the man himself. "Slowly," Liam directed and maneuvered him a little forward. "I missed you so much Zee."

"I missed you too baby." Zayn muttered and slowly lowered his neck and placed his lips on top of Liam's. There wasn't anything to be said, it had been years and finally kissing this man, Liam had loved since so very long felt like rain after a very long spell of drought. And that's why, Liam made sure this kiss was supposed to be like that, gentle but desperate with desire. Their tongues danced like never before, Liam massaged the base of his tongue with biting his lips which elicited a loud moan from his lover. He had his arm firmly supporting Zayn's back so he pulled the black haired beauty more closer to himself, Liam's mouth shifted to his neck who's shirt's collar, he unbuttoned immediately and latched his lips onto his exposed neck. While his other hand crept inside his shirt which was now in a complete mess. His hand then moved up to his nipples and was surprised to meet with a cold metal ring which was attached to his nipple.

"Got a piercing, huh?" Liam asked biting his earlobe, which just brought a moan from his throat and he continued to nibble on it until-

"Guys, the car is- what's happening here?" Niall questioned standing before them clearly confused. "I go for ten bloody minutes and you're either on the verge of killing each other or ripping one another's clothes." 

"I like the second part of the sentence." Zayn said nodding his head. 

"Same." Liam agreed leaning his head on Zayn's shoulder.

And with that they slowly began walking towards the exit, clad with bodyguards, indirectly stating that there are a lot of paparazzi waiting outside.

"Liam." Zayn mumbled, making the brown haired guy turn towards him, disregarding the flashes and questions. "Have you ever thought of coming out?"

Liam stopped suddenly on his way looking at the bleeding man.

"I always thought we'd do it together but since you weren't there, I ignored the idea."

"Really?"

"Yea." He confirmed. "It was always about you Zayn, coming out not coming out."

Zayn stopped for a moment,"So it was my call?"

"Still is."

"And we're together right now, right?"

"If you say otherwise, I'll kill you."

"I love you."

"So do I."

"I've always loved you, since the X Factor. Since every song we ever wrote or sang together. Even after I foolishly broke up with you."

Liam quietly stared at him, he still had his arm around Zayn's waist supporting him to walk. "You better have a good reason for that."

"I did."

"Guys," the guard intervened,"please move on, you know you're already on the first page of any newspaper tomorrow."

"I don't want our fight to be on the first page." Zayn declared suddenly. 

"Well, you can't really help it Zayn," Niall said placing his hand on the shoulder. 

"Yes, I can. I can change it right now." He declared while standing between the flashes of the cameras and the guards pushing them back. 

"Zayn-" Liam began but was cut off with Zayn's lips smashing upon Liam's and all they remembered was flashes of the cameras growing more rapid.


	3. Chapter Three

"You guys are fucking mental! You know that?" Niall declared taking a seat on the sofa in Zayn's hotel room. He threw a newspaper to Zayn's bandaged body clad in blankets which had sunlight gently tapping on it. 

"Front page?" Zayn questioned with a hint of a grin on his lips.

"Well, it's worse." Niall told him furrowing his eyebrows with a skeptic gaze.

Zayn noticed so many newspapers having a clear shot of their kiss from the night before plastered on the front page of most of the celebrity news pages with the title 'Ziam is Real?!'

"Well, clearly it is." Liam muttered reading the headlines after strolling into the room.

"You know your managers are gonna kill you?" Niall asked in verification. 

"Well, yeah, obviously." Liam responded. "But we aren't controlled by Modest! anymore. So it's gonna be a little better. I presume."

Niall was in a deep thought after his answer and then a small smile sneaked onto his face, "You're right. I'm so happy!" He declared suddenly grabbing the attention of Zayn and Liam. "You guys couldn't have done this if we were still under them! It's so much better now!"

Zayn had his eyebrows risen in amusement to Niall's sudden yet obvious realization. It was honestly saddening if not depressing to see how much Modest! still was a grim shadow over them even though they weren't managed by them anymore. "I wish Haz and Lou were here too. We could've had a proper celebration."

Liam's gaze softened,"We'll find them Niall." He certained placing his hand on his shoulder and added a smile. Niall nodded his head and returned the smile.

Zayn smiled and turned to Liam.

"Did you check twitter or anything?" Zayn questioned, his eyes fixed on Liam who just shook his head telling a 'No'. He slowly pulled himself to sit up on the bed, reaching for the box of cigarettes. 

"Zayn!" Liam called. "You just got up, you're literally beaten up, you're not smoking!" 

Zayn groaned,"Should've done it when you were in the bathroom."

"Shut up, give it to me," Liam ordered with his voice giving away dead seriousness and standing right before him.

"Li, one smoke. Please." Zayn asked with his hands rubbing Liam's arms. He slowly stood up and kissed Liam's cheek. "Please," he repeated and put his arm around him. "Just one- are you taking a video of this!?" He exclaimed withdrawing himself from Liam. 

"Yeahh." Niall nodded staring at his screen. "I've put it as my IG story."

"What? Why!?" Liam snapped and turned back towards him. 

"You guys kissed in front of the entire world yesterday, this shouldn't be a problem at all." Niall shrugged. "And," he restarted. "That's not what I came here for!" 

"Come on, you've go to check out the crowd!" Niall said running to the balcony. Zayn looked at him confused and slowly strolled to the balcony with Liam's help. 

It was massive. The crowd. Not as much as on their 1D days, this was very small compared to that but there was a crowd. A huge fan base. Holding banners of support, waving pride flags, there were few Larry banners too. And last but not the least,paparazzi , flashing cameras like small flickering lights.

Zayn went in to put a shirt and then rejoined Liam and Niall on the balcony. He waved his hand to the crowd and the fans burst into screams. 

"Wow! Its been awhile. This has been a while!" Niall commented excitedly. "Definitely." Liam conceded.

"I thought Larry had a huge fan base." Zayn questioned. "Looks like we do too." Liam smirked.

"Clearly." Zayn said returning the smirk. 

***

***

"And you agreed to it?!" Liam questioned appalled bythe revelations. Niall just stayed dumb, he felt as though his speech, his ability of comprehension had been taken away. His bandmate was put through so much of nonsense and they didn't have a slight idea. 

"Yes, I did. Because even after all of this I trusted them. I hoped they'd hold up their end of the contract." Zayn said honestly. "But clearly they didn't."

"I said if publicity is what they want, I'll leave the band which would bring us to a lot of global attention. And they agreed to it." Zayn reiterated. "I put another clause that I'll have this twitter feud which will spark it up more. Which did happen between Louis and me. I said that would happen provided that this pregnancy scandal wouldn't take place for a few months."

"In an insignificant manner but I did change the course of it for a few days." He added with his lips firmly pressed into a thin line. "I tried my best to keep them together by diverting the attention of Modest! but I guess it just backfired."

"I had mentioned very clearly to stay away from them for awhile. A little while." Zayn muttered regretfully and closed his eyes ruinously. "But as soon as it died down, I heard that they released the statement Louis was having a baby. And that very evening when it happened, Harry and Louis just disappeared."

"Louis called me, you know," Zayn said with his voice growing hoarse, emitting regret,"he called me so many times but I was recording so I didn't carry my phone." His voice paused but then continued,"When I dialed back after an hour, it just rang and when I went over on the internet, The Sun had published an article telling Louis knocked some chick. And then the next day, I saw your posts on twitter." 

"When Haz said he was going to destroy Modest! if they'd go ahead with the paternity scandal, I honestly thought he was joking." Liam laughed sarcastically.  
"I guess all of us were just blind to how much they loved one another and how much Modest! destructed that."

"They grew up so much faster. Especially Harry. The both of them wanted to protect each other so much that they forgot to live." Liam said putting down his observations. "Harry literally forgot to live in between all of this and Louis, he broke into so many pieces, I don't even recall him not being upset anytime of the day."

"Zayn." Niall intervened their discussion out of the blue. "Hmm?" He hummed looking at his friend. Niall got up from his seat and swung a punch right across his face. "How could you?!" Liam widened his eyes at Niall's sudden reaction. "We were there! All of us were fucking there! Why didn't you contact us after Harry and Louis left!? How could you fucking assume you could do it yourself!? How dare you Zayn Malik?!"

Zayn was taken back at Niall's sudden flash of anger,"I was trying to help."

"Yes, you did help but this part where you didn't tell us ruined our friendship, you asshole!"

"Niall." Zayn said with an understanding smile. "I'm sorry."

"Fuck you!" With that Niall just stormed out of the door. Leaving Zayn dumbfounded while Liam chased after his friend.

***

***

When Liam returned to their hotel room, Zayn was on the bed, staring off into blank space while chewing on the cancer stick. Liam lowered himself onto the bed and sat before him. "Zayn," he said treading carefully on these waters making sure he could tell the truth and also reassure his boyfriend,"he needs time, I'm sure he'll come around. He just can't-"

"-I'm sorry for fucking our friendship, I'm sorry for letting the band down, somewhere deep down I do feel it's my fault Harry and Louis left. I feel all of this was my fault." Zayn stringed with his head bent down. Clearly upset. "I still think, would things be different if I had taken Louis' call that day? It's completely my fault." 

Liam took his head in his arms and automatically Zayn worked himself into his arms,"Zayn. Nobody blames you love. It wasn't your fault for looking out for the one's you love, it wasn't your fault at all. Don't be so hard on yourself." He said gently patting Zayn's back. "Yes, you could've told us but Zayn," he said gently maneuvering his chin up to meet his eyes,"what is done is done and we have to focus on something before us. And that is finding them. And you're doing everything in your power to accomplish that." 

"And I'm proud of you." He added like a boastful yet genuine father. "For sacrificing so much."

"Really?" Zayn squeaked. 

"Yes." He smiled and then said. "Now, could I ask you out on a proper date? And could you give me that charming smile and say yes?"

Zayn pecked his lips,"Yes."

***

***

The breeze was there and so was the blazing sun between the folds of the bright sky blinding everyone with its light. The water fluttered after gently reflecting the source of illumination which embraced the atmosphere while the seagulls lazily drew themselves across the sky in a group of three. 

Harry's eyes were staring lazily through the window and a smile graced his lips when the door opened to the familiar scent of home. His home. As soon as he heard foot steroids approaching the room,he pulled the sheets up and turned the other side.

"Harry, get up, already." The messy haired boy sighed while placing his surf board near the window. Sauntering towards the bed, in one go, he yanked the sheets off Harry's form." I stayed extra today and you're still not up!"

"Lou!" He whined immediately at what had been accomplished. 

"Don't Lou me, Styles." He snapped crudely. "I specifically told you to get your ass out of the bed before I'm home."

"It's our anniversary, could you be a little enthusiastic today?!" Louis demanded, clearly annoyed with his lover's behaviour. Harry let out an amused chuckle at Louis sudden change to precise behaviour moment.   
Harry dragged himself from the bed and followed Louis to the bathroom. 

"Get out." Louis demanded, clearly annoyed. Harry rose an eyebrow,"Well I'm here to have a bath, you can witness me if you want to."

"Harry, this isn't up for-" he stopped as soon as all his clothes were discarded and all which remained was his skin, a little tanned now though, in Louis' opinion. He slowly, very slowly moved towards the shower and turned the knob, allowing the water to fall on him.   
Kissing every small surface his skin covered. Making it's way after wetting his locks to his broad shoulders, the water then seductively licked his chest and fell onto his perfectly scuplted hips, finally trailing down his legs. 

God! Why was he so beautiful and why did he always know that this would get Louis off any chagrin or displeasure he held for him. 

He quickly stripped his Bermuda shorts and joined his husband in the bathroom. "Fucking hate you." He snapped and wrapped his hands around Harry's naked waist. Gently, pulling him down to kiss him. Which he certainly did. 

Kissing. Biting. Moaning. Eating. Licking. Fucking.   
That was what followed in the upcoming hour and Harry was more than happy to indulge into his husband's requests. 

The anniversary had been beautifully planned by Louis. He had insisted on it this time because Harry always plans stuff. Always. From the beginning. Even since the X Factor. Harry took an initiative into romance. It was always Harry. Getting the champagne, the roses, the fancy dinners. So this time Louis had insisted, that he'd take an initiative to plan out everything. Every single thing for their anniversary on the 28th of September. 

So it had been that way, with a little help from Clara, a lovely brunette who had been assigned by Harry's friend to ensure their privacy in the tiny community in which they resided by the quaint waters and a sceneric beauty. She had set up a nice brunch along god knows where because Harry had persisted he would be allowed to plan something and that something was brunch with Clara's assistance, of course who had also helped Louis plan the rest of the evening which was going to arrive pretty soon. 

When Harry and Louis arrived to their cafè, most of the community had wished them a happy anniversary. And since the place they lived, scarcely had people, it was enough. This community they'd been living in, had given them everything in the past few years. The tiny life they'd begun here from a scratch had taken a lot of time and effort to built up and at this point of their life, it was satisfactory. 

"Happy anniversary boys!" A frail voice wished them as soon as they entered the wooden door of their cafe. 

"Margaret." Harry said with a big smile and then stopped at her table."Thank you so much."

"Thank you Maggy!" Louis said and kissed the old woman's wrinkled cheek. A blush erupted on the woman's face,"Oh Louis! Always the charmer. Hope you have something good planned up for him!" She remarked. 

"Trust me, I do." He winked and walked into the kitchens following Harry's lead. 

"Hey, Clara!" Louis greeted. Clara snapped her eyes from the paper and rushed over to hug them both.   
"Happy anniversary you two!" 

Smiling at her, they thanked her and then suspiciously enough Louis took her aside to discuss a few arrangements while Harry was supervising a few things around the cafe. 

"By the way Louis," Clara began and then handed him a big bouquet of red roses. "This is from Miss Sjöberg"  
Louis' eyebrows narrowed and then a smile rose on his lips. And then followed,"Tell her we are grateful for it."  
Harry strolled out of the kitchens and took Louis' hand carefully leading him towards that one table which overlooked the sea and was the most private place in the cafe, especially today when both of them were in the cafe together not being extra cautious about any random tourists, they'd cleared the entire floor on the top.

As soon as Harry and Louis entered the stunning floor decorated with white lillies and bright red roses, a soft music began to play in the background. 

"It's beautiful Haz." Louis said with a soft smile. He made him take a seat Harry kissed his forehead and quickly ran down to get food, then brought in the tray of things most probably which of the dishes which were Louis' absolute favourites and sat down right across him, staring at him like he was the only thing he ever wanted in the entire world which Harry certainly did.  
While they continued to bicker and eat and flirt, Harry's hand slowly went up to his hair and gently patted it. 

"Never realized how beautiful you were, you know," Harry said complimenting his husband and then confessed honestly. "I can't imagine a world without you Louis."

"Same here, my love, same here." He said leaning across the table to peck his cheek. 

"Now tell me about your kayaking today." Harry asked with a smile.

***  
***

The evening had been an extravagant affair with a cruise and champagne and the star studded sky. It had been elegant and dramatic like Louis. It was beautiful. He had driven them to the port where the white private cruise ship awaited their arrival, lead by a chauffeur, a serene scene placed with dinner, drinks and a violinist. Since Harry had taken a slight interest in the violin recently after her. 

Eventually they did end up in the bedroom, naked, laying on top of one another. Louis had been tucked into Harry's arms, drawing random shapes on his husband's arms and making sure his heartbeat was the only thing he was paying attention to. 

"Lou?" His Harry began, Louis hummed in return to the question. "Did you see the pictures of Zayn and Liam?"

"Hmmm."

"I'm very happy for them."

"I am too."

"I miss them Louis. I miss all of them."

"I miss them too, Hazza."

"But not yet, right?"

"Not yet darling, not yet."


	4. Chapter Four

Harry had just returned from the cafe as the sky had invited more stars to surround the moon. It had been a beautiful dark blue blanket with spots of white under which the waters diligently reflected and slowly washed it to the shore. The sands had been warm from the recent fierce blaze of the sun. He slowly stepped into the porch, locking the gate, he ran up to the door and before he could even knock, it flung open with a shirtless Louis standing by the door to welcome him home. 

Harry had a smile draped across his lips when he saw this siren before him. He took one leap and his lips landed on Louis'. It wasn't passionate. It wasn't long or enthusiastic. It hardly persisted. It started with the brush of their lips against one another and then their tongues met for a second and that was when Louis pulled back. "Welcome back home, my dear."

"You're early." He remarked afterwards.

"Couldn't stay away from you. Harry said kissing his cheeks. Louis latched the door and took his place on the sofa. "I'm hungry." Louis whined. Harry smiled,"I got food, don't worry."

Harry placed the food on the dining table which had been thoughtfully placed towards the window. Now that it was mentioned, he realizes that most of their dining places are towards the sea. It's just that it calms both him and Louis. The sea. The waters. He still remembers the day when all of this even started. It had been sloppy, stormy and an absolute emotional whirlwind. 

 

It had been an extremely odd night. Unexpectedly calm but Harry knew it was the silence before a storm. But he ignored it because nothing in his life was right to be wrong but definitely he did have the capacity in him to go through worse. 

He was an international icon, a celebrity who had his wings clipped off and was forced to closet himself and his boyfriend in exchange of fame and success. Initially it was all right. The little arrangements of them not seeing one another. The entire band had trusted the people who were their management. The entire band. Harry being the most. He tried to justify time and again that it was all right because these experienced men knew the best. Knew very well. They kept the interests of the band above themselves. 

As time passes everyone realized that except for being power hungry, Modest! didn't really care about anything else. And one direction had become their biggest plaything. 

He remembers the clear transition of his feelings of respect to dislike to loathe and finally despicable hatred for the men who they had the misfortune of encountering in their life. Simon Cowell being one amongst them. 

He was supposed to be papped today outside this elite club to keep up his reputation of the womanizer of the band when he didn't even give a fuck about girls in the romantic light. Before he met the girl Modest! had arranged for, his phone began to buzz while he got down from his car, it was Louis. 

He swiped the screen to accept the call, he never did not, not accept Louis' call. Anytime of the day, if Louis called, he'd take it, regardless of the situation or the time. 

"Hello?"

"Harry!" The voice exclaimed between the sobs. Harry's eyebrows furrowed and panic begun to take over his skin."Lou? Lou? What happened?!"

"It's out Hazza, I don't wanna do this. I don't wanna be a father. I don't want this!" He cried ridiculously and kept hiccuping in between. "They've released a statement and tomorrow I'm supposed to take a picture with her for this senseless piece of garbage." 

Harry took a deep breath and closed his eyes in devastation. "Lou," he began with a sigh.

"HARRY!" A few paparazzi screamed immediately as soon as they spotted him. He turned towards his bodyguard and gestured them to escort him into the club. 

"I'll be right back, give me a moment." He said into the phone and while he was on the call, hurriedly, he searched for the restroom and went in and called Louis again. Thankfully there wasn't anybody there to eavesdrop on his conversation. 

Harry rang back to Louis and the next few minutes, he was sure was the most intense and life changing conversation they had ever had. 

Harry in his state of distress had asked Louis some real serious questions about leaving the band, disappearing from the spotlight to a place, he promised was normal and safe for them. It would be away from the world and it would be only them. Not their families. Not the boys. And definitely not Modest!. It was decided then in between the frustration, floating in those tears, surrounded by anxiety, they decided to be selfish and leave. The fame. The glory. The pretence. The boys. The families. The music.

Harry still wonders if this was worth putting everything on the line and then he looks at his middle finger adorned with the solid white gold ring. It reassures him more than how much the stars assure the moon that they'll be there tomorrow. 

The next few hours had been as quite as possible. Harry had made a few phone calls and by dawn they were away from LA. Away from Modest!. And a step closer to one another. 

He still remembers how it happened, he asked Louis to stay where he was and then sent a car. He asked him to leave any gadget he owned back at the house and kept ressuring him it'll be all right and then directed him to get in the car. Ensuring no paparazzi were around to even capture that Louis had left their LA home, he sent him to the airport and asked him to wait on the jet which was being made ready as they spoke.  
Harry had then carefully gone through their LA home and cleared their phones, laptops, everything through which they could remotely contact either of them. And left them there. He then scribbled a note and left it pinned to the fridge by the help of a magnet. 

_To whosoever finds this,_  
_It has been a wonderful journey for both me and Louis. A journey we never expected to have. Every single experience was magical from our first song to the first tour. The fans, the fame, every single thing and above all our friendship with Niall, Zayn and Liam. It was an honest blessing, we couldn't have asked for anything better than this._  
_But it has also been tiring, we're in love and that's the simplest explanation I can give for why we are doing this. It grew frustrating when you had a leash around us and that leash was so strong that I think at one point it would almost choke us and before that happened I guess both Louis and I just made a decision, a firm one._  
_It may look like that we were cowards to run away from the situation this way but trust me when I say if it wasn't this it was death._  
_I hope in the end, the reason that we were two boys who weren't allowed to love each other but did it anyway and they did it hard would be a sufficient reason to tell everyone out there._

_Love Always,_

_Harry and Louis._

He then moved over to the car waiting for him to take him to Louis who was anxiously waiting at the LA airport.

On their private flight to Canada, Louis had questioned his boyfriend, looking carefully at the grey clouds shimmering outside the jet,"Haz did you always have this planned, that's why you threatened Magee and Griffiths?"

Harry pulled him closer with his arm around, snuggled him closer. Inhaling Louis' mint scent which still persisted on his perfect skin. "Remember that time when I said that my first real crush was-"

"Louis Tomlinson and you added we've discussed it and it's mutual." Louis completed, giving him a glimpse of a smile. Harry nodded his head giving him a smile, clearly reminiscing the time he did it, and leant back on the leather clad seat, having his arm changing it's position and slithered it around his hand. Fingers intertwined with his skin against his very own hide.  
"It was ruddy planning initially, more like _if_ they'd turn their backs against us but as Modest! started imposing more of their strategies on us, my plan solidified. I started withdrawing more cash as the record sales grew higher. And then I met her, Miss Sjöberg."

Harry explained deliberately not disclosing the name of the person who helped them and was helping them by generously providing her private jet and security for the two of them.

His attention snapped back at Harry, looking back into his green eyes,"And then I told this person about everything Modest! was doing. And she helped us out. The only thing I can do is, apologize to you to keep Miss Sjöberg a secret."

Louis squinted his eyes and looked away from his green pools and then turned back to Harry. "Will I meet her?"

"Soon. Very soon."

And he meet her, Sjöberg in Peggy's Cove. He was surprised, astonished even, she had been a surprisingly nice person, extremely witty and sarcastic which almost came out as rude but Louis didn't mind it because he could easily grasp Miss Sjöberg's sense of humor.  
She'd been generously kind to them and even provided for a PA who'd communicate any necessities they'd require to her. By the end of the entire exchange, Louis knew that nobody, no single person would suspect Miss Sjöberg to have knowledge of their whereabouts and that's why they'd stayed hidden for an extremely long time. 

In the next few days through fake twitter accounts which was cautiously made by Miss Sjöberg, they noticed that the Larry Stylinson tag was trending. It had been Niall who had gone forward and told the world what had occurred through his tweets. And the guilt and support poured out of everywhere from Ed Sheeran to Nick Grimshaw, everybody had supported them worldwide on twitter, tumblr and other places on the web. In fact in London there was a march to display their support for Louis and Harry. When Harry showed Louis this, he turned to him and gave a bitter chuckle,"Of course. Now when it's out, everyone cares."  
And Harry had silently agreed to Louis' comment. It had been both a dreadful and blissful journey since the day they'd left. 

After they landed in Peggy's Cove, Harry had spent as much as time with Louis as possible. In fact it seemed every living moment of his breath was spent on Louis. Helping him get over the ridiculous amount of mental stress which had built upon his shoulder and latched itself to his arm. He had begun cutting himself and it took just a minute for Harry to figure out what he was doing. It took a lot of persuasion, tears and hiding every sharp object on the tour bus to stop Louis from doing it. Literally. He kept this from the others. Deliberately. Because Louis had begged him not to inform the others. Stupidly enough, he did not take Louis to a therapist and that's why it grew worse, Louis had convinced him, anybody would get to know if they'd contact a therapist and had pushed addressing this issue till after the tour. 

That was why there was a therapist arranged by Miss Sjöberg tending to Louis every single day until he came out of both depression and anxiety. 

It had been difficult, there was one point where Louis had gotten such a severe case of panic attacks that Harry was in tears by the end of most of the sessions. There were days where Harry had to pin him up in an embrace to prevent him from cutting himself. And Louis would cry for hours, cursing him, telling him there was no alternative but to cut himself to make the pain go away. 

It took time but when the storm was over, their love had just strengthened with every passing and it was so much more stronger and powerful. 

Harry sighed and sat on the chair, banishing the flashbacks and served both Louis and himself dinner, while his partner had his eyes fixed to his phone which was odd because one thing Louis was least interested in was his phone, he legitimately didn't use it for anything except for making phone calls.

"Babe?" Harry said looking at him waiting for a response. Louis looked up at him with a sort of confusion on his face and handed him his phone. Harry's eyebrows furrowed and took the phoneend and his furrow just deepened on his forehead. 

The screen had a picture of Gemma's hand with a diamond ring on her ring finger with the caption, _"Your elder sister is getting married baby brother, return to us already."_  
Harry's green eyes met Louis' blue ones with a sort of uncertainty, _"What're we supposed to do?"_


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own RedOne's MV of Do you need somebody but I just thought no other song would appropriately fit into the situation as accurately as this one. 
> 
> And we have our OFC entering here!

Zayn's idea of renaming the concerts and spreading it that they were most welcomed to actually help them in finding HarryandLouis was executed brilliantly. And the response had been massive. It had begun like a wave.

Initially Liam and Zayn gate crashed Niall's concert and had just randomly walked on the stage. Surprising not only the crowd but also Niall who was thrilled to have them on stage. Zayn and Liam had sung along with Niall for the last two songs and also added an extra One Direction song which went by the name 'Little Things' they'd publicly dedicated this song to LouisandHarry wherever they were. 

Towards the end Niall asked the crowd,"Guys, you do know there are two of our friends who aren't present here, right?"

The crowd answered with a loud Larry chant and Zayn nodded his head. "Exactly, Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles decided it was necessary to disappear four years back." He narrated with all the ardour he had and turned to his boyfriend to let him take over the narration. "But don't you think it is time they returned? I mean tell me how many of you don't miss all the five of us on one stage?!" And to this question the fans went insane, the roar was louder that anything he'd ever heard. It reverberated in the arena reminding him of his 1D concerts.

Zayn smiled at his boyfriend's strategic comment,"So me, Niall and Liam have decided to search for them but there is a tiny problem."

"We have no clue where to start." Niall completed for Zayn. "And that was why all of us thought we'd turn to the people who wouldn't tell us a no and would help us regardless of anything."

"You guys. " Liam trained on,"We need help to find our best mates and we are sure except our fans there is no other efficient search team!" And this got a lot of hoots and big round of applause. The screams were almost deafening and in that moment Niall turned towards Zayn to flash a smile indirectly telling that this plan of his would actually bear some fruit.

And that's all he hoped for that it did. It did cause up some stir in the industry though. A big stir. The newspapers had caught wind of this, most of the celebrities were talking and giving opinions on this recent development. But the most fascinating thing was going through the internet. It had been by a fan who went by the name, Sara Ashley, she'd started a #FindLarry movement on twitter and it was gaining followers as they even spoke at the moment at Zayn's house. 

When they'd returned to his place, Niall had given Zayn a earful about _how you shouldn't jeopardize your friendship for publicity reasons. _Even though Zayn had argued it wasn't for publicity reasons, Niall told him to stuff it and made him, made Zayn bloody Malik commit to a _pinky promise_ that he'd never do this again. Zayn gave him a skeptical brow when Niall raised his pinky finger as the ultimate form of assurance and had threatened him that he'd kill him if he even thought of breaking this. Zayn just nodded and committed to the promise and saw Liam from the corner of his eye who was having a hard time not to break down laughing at Zayn's expressions regarding the pinky promise.__

__***  
***_ _

__Gemma's wedding was growing closer and they still hadn't caught up with any wind of Harry and Louis. There was no information about them at all. Even though, they had started a very huge movement, there was no clue as to where to find them. A few fans did get to know through their sources that Louis and Harry had booked their table in the French Laundry through a certain Miss Sjöberg but when they tried to find her real identity, boom, there was none. It was like a dead end. The final decision was, it was just a random cover up name they had used and they left that name Miss Sjöberg alone._ _

__All these happenings went like a slideshow before Zayn's eyes, they tried so hard but nothing was returning to them. No clues. No evidences and it almost frustrated Zayn twice as over. He was rubbing his temples when Liam brought his cup of tea to the couch, he placed it on the small wooden table before them and pressed his lips on top of Zayn's head. "We'll find them. Don't worry and hopefully before Gemma's wedding too." He assured his boyfriend as though he had just read his mind immediately._ _

__"I'm just wondering, what if we never find-"_ _

__Liam placed his thumb on his lips immediately and shook his head,"No, we will. Hopefully we will." Rubbing his lip with his thumb and then pulled his chin to latch his lips with his very own._ _

__The kiss was so very slow and seductive with Liam leading it. He began with their tongues lazily caressing one another and then slowly nibbling onto Zayn's lower lip which elicited a moan from his boyfriend's throat but before Zayn could proceed Niall burst into the room. Again._ _

__"Guys!- oh!"_ _

__"Yeah! Oh!" Zayn moved him with a glare._ _

__"It's important!" Niall explained, now that he started that, Zayn noticed that his friend was frantic with his iPad in his hands. He say down with the two of them and restarted the music video he was watching.  
RedOne's new music video, "Don't you need somebody." had over 100K views in the past hour and the reason wasn't because there had been plenty celebrities in it but because there had been HarryandLouis in it._ _

__It was unmistakable. They came towards the ending. First it had just been Louis singing the chorus and showing gestures but then Harry came in and hugged him wrapping one another with a pride flag._ _

__"What the fuck?" Liam cursed immediately. Niall nodded his head,"Exactly, what the fuck?"_ _

__"Are they coming back?" Zayn asked baffled and replaying the last part again and again._ _

__"If I'd know I'd tell you Zayn," Niall said with disappointing sigh. Zayn ignored him and got up from his place, then was looking up for something and walked out of the room to make a few phone calls. A few minutes later, he walked back in. "Fuck my life!" He groaned grasping the attention of the other two men in the room. The two looked at him expectantly._ _

__"RedOne has many interviews to do and has given strict instructions that he doesn't want to meet any of us." Zayn said with a deadly expression._ _

__"Why?!" Liam asked._ _

__"I bloody do not know!"_ _

__"Clearly, they don't want us to know where they are." Niall alternated. Zayn's lips thinned into a line,"I don't care what they want, it's high time we find them."_ _

__

__It had been a few days since the video dropped, the three along with Gemma and Lottie had tried their best to track down RedOne but his manager stirred them clear of any sort of meetings._ _

__Zayn did keep a track of the numerous interviews he did where they clearly shut down any sort of questions by the interviewer who asked how did he get in contact with Harry and Louis._ _

__He just plainly said,"I am bound by a contract to not open my mouth on any questions regarding this."_ _

__And nothing could make him open his mouth regarding that. Ellen herself had tried to skillfully manipulate him into a rapid fire but then he stopped in the middle of the game and said that his lips were sealed._ _

__Since so much wasn't satisfying enough, alongside that he made sure, he didn't crash into any one direction member or fan or anyone remotely related to the band. Adding the fact that RedOne was extremely discreet in his private travels didn't help them much._ _

__Even though Enrique, Serayah were on the song too, on being questioned he said he just recorded the song and had no clue that Harry and Louis were being involved in this. He had been on a call with Zayn and told him that RedOne had taken the initiative for making the entire video._ _

__Pissed off by the lack of progress, Zayn had holed up in his house with Liam and Niall who had camped in his house too, occasionally they had Gemma and Lottie and even Ed Sheeran who was being actively supportive of finding Harry and Louis which was why Jeff, his manager had recommended to increase the security of Zayn's house by a pinch to which he'd given his consent._ _

__At the moment, he was on tumblr going through random fan theories hoping he'd find one which made the most sense. All of them where interesting but nothing believable enough._ _

__"No, please! Let me meet him once! Please!" A scream came from the porch. "I've come here from so very far! Let me meet him once!"_ _

__"Zayn!" Another shout came about from gates. Intrigued, Zayn and the other two went over to his balcony. "Mitch, what's going on?" He called out to his security guard._ _

__"Sir! You don't have to worry yourself-"_ _

__"-I can help you find LouisandHarry." She cut the guard off in between but was still being pulled by the men protecting the pop star._ _

__"Many fans are helping us, dearie." Niall replied to her._ _

__"Not as much as I can!" She shouted again. "I know where RedOne is!"_ _

__Zayn rose an eyebrow,"Mitch! Stop for a moment."  
She looked completely in a disheveled state, her platinum blonde hair all over the place and her pale grey eyes in a state of trance, panting and then turned towards the three. "He is in Rio De Janeiro."_ _

__"How do you know that?"_ _

__"I hacked into his phone."_ _

__Zayn rolled his eyes and turned to walk away, he obviously didn't believe this, he knows RedOne is a celebrity for God's sake, it's not that easy to hack celebrity phones. As much as they'd like to say so in movies._ _

__"Sweety, I don't want to be rude," Niall began,"but we know that you're lyi-"_ _

__"-I'm not lying for the love of God! I have more proof! Louis and Harry shot that in Paris! The pride flag was bought in Paris!"_ _

__Liam's eyebrows narrowed at the girl,"We should let her explain." He said holding Zayn's arm who instantly interjected,"What if she's-"_ _

__"What if I am an attention seeking crackhead wasting your time?" She completed. Zayn nodded his head from the balcony. "You guys are anyway not getting any sort of lead and when someone comes to help you, you're turning them away."_ _

__This statement probably hit Niall which was why he abruptly announced,"Send her in." Niall announced immediately without consenting his other two buddies. Zayn's lips just began to protest but Niall cut him off,"Let's hear her out, kay? If it seems like she is doing this for publicity, we'll turn it down."_ _

__He sighed and shook his head, following Liam and Niall downstairs to the living room._ _

__Politely asking her to sit, Niall asked,"Go on, we're all ears to you."_ _

__She opened her backpack and removed a few files from it and placed it before them and removed a print out of Harry and Louis in the video where Harry had wrapped both of them in the pride flag for the camera to see._ _

__"This is what we see," she said but if you zoom in here," she pointed, "at this point where Harry tilted his head a little bit, you can see France's tri coloured flag."_ _

__Zayn took the picture closer and examined it with the other three. They looked at one another,"you're right but-"_ _

__"This doesn't prove anything," she completed,"it doesn't, not yet."_ _

__She quickly searched her backpack again, and opened her laptop, after switching it on, she played the clip again._ _

__"Focus on the background," it was a dull cream coloured wall with an almost matte format and had chocolate splashed on it and a half closed window towards the periphery._ _

__"What's so special about it?" Zayn asked in an oblivious manner._ _

__The girl's lips pursed together and her eyes gave a WTF expression,"I'll play it again see only that window and compare it with the rest of the background."_ _

__They did as they were told and that's when Niall jumped up,"The window has been blurred."_ _

__"Thank God." She sighed under her breath and then closed the tab and opened another application showingthe picture zoomed in at the window and kept doing something. "If we resolve the picture back to it's original. We get this."_ _

__"It's the Eiffel tower." Zayn said completely surprised by the resolution._ _

__"Exactly!" She exclaimed and then asked,"Now do you believe me?"_ _

__"Along with that," she restarted and switched the window again and stated another observation, "Both of them are living by the coast or some tropical place."_ _

__"How do you know that?" Liam asked._ _

__"The tan." Zayn answered._ _

__"Yea, the tan but there are dozens of places which would categorize into it. So let's not go there yet." She told discarding her own observation in the most casual manner._ _

__"Now," she strolled on to the next topic, "RedOne."  
She turned to face them, her grey eyes peering at them," I need to educate you guys a little bit on this single first, so stay with me, cool?" She addressed all of them who responded with a nod of their head. _ _

__"The reason he did this video was because he was raising money for a terminally ill children relief fund. All the money raised by this is going to go to this fund." She elucidated briefly. Nodding their heads, Niall gestured her to continue. "Funnily," she said with a smirk,"he is donating this to this particular charity known as, 'Believe in magic.' Does it ring a bell?"_ _

__Liam's eyes went wide, he remembered that time when Louis had organized this charity ball for this very same organization. "Louis had organized this ball before they disappeared, this was the last big social event they did. Louis specifically had organized this." Liam reminded the two of them. "And the organization's name was 'Believe In Magic'."_ _

__Zayn looked at him with widened eyes as realization dawned upon him slowly,"Yea, he did." He turned towards the blonde with the same shock on his face,"You mean, they often donated to the same charity home."_ _

__A huge grin was on display on the grey eyed girl's face,"I knew it you guys weren't as stupid as I thought!" She exclaimed clapping her hands enthusiastically earning a glare from all of them but ignoring it skillfully, "Moving on, what I think is, RedOne wanted money to donate so he somehow got into contact with LouisandHarry and since both of them have a soft spot for children, he would've somehow convinced them."_ _

__"You're telling us that RedOne met Louis and Harry?" Niall asked her, completely fazed._ _

__She rose an eyebrow,"It's a possibility but I am leaning towards that side of book which says that there was a middle man involved because for the amount of low profile they've kept, they would've never interacted with RedOne directly."_ _

__Liam gave her a genuinely impressed expression,"And how do you know RedOne is in Rio?"_ _

__She shrugged,"I already told you, I hacked into his phone and got the info on his messages."_ _

__Zayn was still looked pretty unconvinced on this particular topic. "I still don't believe you on that."_ _

__The grey eyed girl squinted her eyes and then rolled them in absolute annoyance. "What do you want me to do? Present my skills to you?! Because I can! Give me ten minutes and I can hack all your phones and social media accounts."_ _

__"Do it then, hack my twitter account and my phone!" Zayn challenged her. Niall looked at Liam helplessly and carefully suggested,"Zee I think that's a bad idea."_ _

__"Yea, Zayn, I think it's a bad idea." Liam agreed to his friend._ _

__The girl stared into the screen of her MacBook air and furiously began assaulting the keyboard, a good ten minutes later, Zayn had tweeted:_ _

__'If I could strip anything down, it would be @real_liam_payne.'_ _

__Zayn opened his phone and surprisingly his phone had been hacked, he was taken aback by it most certainly and glared daggers at her. "How'd you-"_ _

__"Just because you own highly modified phones doesn't mean there are no highly modified brains to hack them." She replied haughtily with a pout.  
Niall thought it was about time, he averted the conversation, "So do you know where RedOne is staying too?"_ _

__"Yep."_ _

__"And do you know where that place is in Paris where they shot the video."_ _

__"Yes." She answered but added with a nod,"I highly doubt they'd give client details."_ _

__"Why?"_ _

__"Because it's the Ritz."_ _

__Zayn closed his eyes in annoyance again while Liam and Niall dropped their head in disappointment,they had just got something and lost the lead again. "That was my reaction too." She supplied._ _

__"Your findings are extremely helpful. Thanks." Liam said hastily."I think so we can handle it from here."_ _

__She nodded her head and let out a sigh with a glare ,"See," she began looking,at them thoughtfully," that's not why I broke into a high security area screaming Zayn Malik, all right?"_ _

__"I am not even a Directioner," she informed them and quickly placed before their eyebrows rose instantly,"no offence." And then hesitantly looked back up into the three eyes staring down at her. "I just really love Larry, I'm a big time shipper and I'm bloody smart."_ _

__"What do you want?" Liam asked cutting the chase.  
She gulped and the took a deep breath,  
"I want to meet HarryandLouis and I want them to spend a day with me." 

"That's all?" Niall asked. "You don't want any amount?"  
She rolled her eyes at that,"I take it back that I thought you weren't stupid." 

__This drew a chuckle from Zayn and Liam just smirked at the girl's snarkiness,"So you're a techie and a Larrie?"_ _

__"Kinda." She said giving a reluctant nod. "A techie who loves observing unnecessary shit which gives her eternal happiness."_ _

__"Okay, Miss Eternal Happiness," Zayn spoke to her directly,"What's your actual name?"_ _

__This time she gave them a smile, a real curve across her glossed lips,"Sienna Meredith Marshall."_ _


	6. Chapter Six

Zayn Malik had no clue why he was so fascinated by chandeliers, it seemed like the decorative glass just called to him, it was an odd obsession but he sported it. And that was the reason why he noticed the ceiling had been painted in a soft pastel shade because it had a lovely chandelier at the centre. They were seated in RedOne's pearl beach painted beach house which oddly smelt of pineapples.

After Sienna Meredith Marshall had given the clear lead where RedOne was currently residing, Zayn and Niall flew down to Rio while Liam tried his luck on The Ritz. 

Zayn was still expecting RedOne to come up and tell them to get out but thankfully that's not what occurred. RedOne did come, he strolled inside in a pair of khaki shorts and white shirt and from where Zayn was seated he looked so calm that he actually thought that he wouldn't throw them out. And he didn't, he was politely courteous questioning them if they'd want any drinks or anything to eat.

"Water would be pleasant," Niall had requested and Zayn had muttered,"Same."

RedOne nodded at the maid and turned back towards the men seated on his couch. Letting a sigh,"I knew you wouldn't let go of me, HarryandLouis had warned me on that but you'd go to the extent of tracking my most private property. " he smirked clearly impressed."I'm surprised."

"Did you meet them?" Zayn asked disregarding his comment completely. He chuckled quietly and removed his glasses keeping them on the glass table. 

"Right on to the business Mr Malik?" Zayn didn't react, he just quietly stared at him until he'd answer.

"I didn't, they always interacted through a third person." RedOne revealed to the them with a huff. "I had been chasing them for four months. And then I met this one man at a charity auction."

"He'd known that I was interested in all charity works so he'd wanted to team up for a campaign for women rights." RedOne narrated from his memory, glancing at Niall and Zayn time to time."And then after the campaign, he said he was taking his daughter to your concert. I asked him if he knew anything about the lads who disappeared. 

"He said he didn't but surprisingly he was in another charity home due to some business, there he heard this man talking about your friends on the phone to someone," RedOne stated. At this page of the story, Niall had his attention solely focused on his words which came out of his mouth while the breeze around them grew more thick. "It seems he was speaking to his boss who knew where they were. And this friend of mine informed me about this development and I tried contacting that woman and even though I never met her once, spoke only to her PA, they helped me out."

"Who was this woman?" Niall asked finally.

"I don't really know her entire name and I've never met her," he iterated again and gave the name that made Niall and Zayn look at each other in worry,"Miss Sjöberg."

***  
***

Niall was quietly watching the streetlights pass by in the brilliantly lit city of the lost angels, Los Angeles. The lights never grew dim in LA and the people never grew tired of it. The city had housed the pop star since a very elaborate spell of time and it had almost become a home to him. 

The stunning light stars had been deliberately gentle on the dark blue sky which weaved across the night. The music in the air had been calm and soothing to his ears. The past two days had been tiresome on the three of them. They had found RedOne, had gotten him to talk too but it was a deadlock. He told them important facts but in the end he halted on that one name, Miss Sjöberg. 

Niall had been baffled by this Miss Sjöberg who consistently kept covering up for his friends. Before his thoughts could proceed further, Zayn's voice brought him back into the car,"Yes, I guess it's here."  
His eyes looked around trying to decipher the area they were confined to while Niall had been unaware of the road they'd been taking, captivated in his own thoughts by the time they arrived at Sienna's house.

This blonde girl had clearly stated that she did not want to be remotely spotted by the paps to spurn new stories revolving her. Due to this reason, she had denied to meet the trio in any public place and instructed them clearly, it had to be in a more private place if they ever wanted to contact her personally. Keeping in mind her request, Liam suggested to meet over at her own house. Sienna had been skeptical at first, she still had recommended skype over actually meeting them in person but reluctantly gave her apartment's address, anyway. 

They quietly walked up the brown bricked building which hardly had any paint on it. The wooden staircases were carefully made in a spiral wound around the centre with a black railing for support which led to the first floor where the house was located.  
Walking past them was a black cat who looked suspiciously at them while they placed themselves right before the door blasting with music. It had been left ajar to let the music welcome any guest who'd come in. Being polite, Liam knocked the door and rang the bell which clearly didn't work because the boys were still right before the door a certain few minutes later. Finally Zayn disregarded etiquette and just barged into the apartment while the other two protested but followed his lead anyway. 

The decently sized apartment had gold tapestry with white curtains, a combination Zayn often recommended. Placed acutely near the window was a brown couch with tiny tables on either side which kept a vase filled with tulips on one side and a framed photograph with a few keys on the other table. Across the wooden floor from the couch was a tiny book shelf and beside that a small table which Zayn assumed was used for dining since a pizza and coke perfectly unpacked still sat there. Disregarding the decor of the surroundings, Zayn continued his stroll to find the blonde.The plain white walls walked past them as the music grew louder while they approached the room it was being emitted from.

Zayn opened the already ajar door to see the girl who'd guided them to RedOne, dancing and singing. Her back was facing them so she couldn't see them. Evidently. Which was the reason she was singing at the top of her voice to one of their best songs ever, no pun intended. And dancing too. Though she was dancing pretty decently in his opinion. 

The screen before her had the video playing and her attention was stuck on it. Liam looked at his boyfriend, intrigued with the fact that this girl had just proclaimed that she didn't care about 1D.

"Are you sure she ain't a directioner?" Liam asked with an amused smirk. Zayn's sharp brown eyes laughed back with a grin etching on his face. 

"I love this part!" She said to herself and continued jumping and screaming. 

Liam chuckled at the oblivious girl who continued dancing with absolutely no care in the world,"She really didn't notice us, did she?" He whispered to Zayn who had a smirk on his face and nodded while she danced for the rest of the song, carefully keeping her back towards the boybanders. 

"I so badly want her to turn," Liam whispered into his boyfriend's ear who gave him sly grin of approval. But Zayn overlooked Liam's denim covered shoulder to see Niall's blue gaze looking at the right wall of the room which had a queen sized placed right before it. It was painted in a chocolate brown with a collage located right on top of the bed. And that collage, god damn! It had so many pictures of Harry and Louis, the recent ones, the not so recent ones, but it was only Harry and Louis with Harry heart Louis written in the center. That's when Zayn's attention diverted and he noticed that the music had stopped with a very skeptical looking Sienna looking at them, having her hands on her hips.

"You could've warned me, you know?" She said to them and shook her head, walking past them to shut the main door and then added mostly to herself in complete disapproval,"Left it open again!"

And then maneuvered back to the ex boybanders,"That you were coming," she muttered," a text from any of your managers as a heads up." She said with a raised eyebrow and her lips pursed against one another in distaste. 

"Are you sure you aren't a directioner?" Liam asked completely deviated from the original topic. She threw him another glare followed by a roll of eyes,"No. Definitely. Certainly. Assuredly, I am not." She said with a sigh and asked them to sit on the couch in the living room. "Pizza?"

"Nah we're good." Liam waved his hand in the air and declined. Sienna shrugged and opened the box and dumped herself with the box of pizza on the bean bag.  
"Go on, why are you guys here?"

The three of them watched her with complete fascination while she opened the box, carefully applying oregano on her pizza slice and took a bite of the large pepperoni pizza. She looked back up at the three men observing her, two men, Niall was just starting at her bedroom door. "I'll give you a tour if you want." She said to him. His sea blue eyes snapped in her direction, startled for a moment and then gave her a relieved smile,"Thanks."

And then her attention turned to the other two,"You'll talk?"

"Yea," Zayn began with a nod and narrated the story of how Niall and him met RedOne. The revelations which took place on the beach house in midst of blue waters. The air grew thicker and Sienna paused her eating as the plot thickened and was staring at Zayn with a very stoic expression on her face. "So Miss Sjöberg is playing with her strings here ?"

"Apparently." Zayn told her. Sienna sighed and sat there lost in a pool of thoughts, staring at her pizza as rain began to slowly trip down the clouds. The pitter patter intensified outside the house when the blonde resumed eating her pizza. "Give me some time," she began and looked at the trio,"maybe two days, I'll redo my research on her."

Zayn looked back up at Sienna and then at Niall and Liam. Niall nodded and turned to this blonde girl who he had genuinely taken a fancy to,"Sienna, we were wondering if you could find them before Gemma's wedding?"

Sienna shrugged,"Of course, I will." She said to them with a smirk. "Definitely I will!"

Something about her confidence told Zayn, she had already planned something but before he could question her on it, the doorbell rang which drew Sienna's eyeballs out accompanied with,"Fuck!"

She quickly stood up and kept the box on the table,"Why don't you guys just be seated in my room and I'll just see who's at the door? Yeah?" 

"Sure, why not?" Niall said standing up way too quickly and moving into her room before the other two even stood. After they settled on her bed. "Thanks," she said and closed the door and then opened it again,"Blonde, don't touch stuff and even if you do don't ruin them!"  
She added referring to Niall. Liam and Zayn began chuckling at the comment while Niall looked around after giving them a glare to shut up. He ignored them and walked around exploring the room.

It had a queen sized bed with white sheets and black pillows, the walls around were a dark purple with one white wall right opposite to the bed which had a huge poster of Harry and Louis pinned up. It was clearly made and not bought. A wardrobe settled right beside that poster which was firmly locked having a stack of boxes on top of it with a few posters and books in it most probably. To the adjacent wall was a small bulletin board which was fixed there and a MacBook PC with a laptop beside it and a stack of files on the other side of the keyboard. Another table was situated close to the PC having a black brief case leaning against the wall almost camouflaged in the dark purple alongside a black suitcase which was half opened. That was when he noted their was a second closet but this was left ajar having a few clothes popping out in a shabby manner.

While Niall looked around, Zayn took the files beside the keyboard and had run through them. And began reading them, as he continued flipping the sheets, his eyes widened having both Liam and Niall observing this, they went and took the file from his tattooed hands and read it and had raised eyebrows with an absolutely unreadable expression etched to their faces. 

"This feels like she's a spy." Liam commented. Niall nodded his head p but turned to the other set of files which looked older. All of them had clear theories of the One Direction members especially 'Larry'. Zayn and Liam were on it too with Niall. It was a legit clear timeline with notes alongside the newspaper cuttings and various printouts. 

"Her research is damn good." Niall commented. Zayn nodded his head in adherenceand turned to his friend," It's good she wants to help us, doesn't look like she is anything but a genuine fan."

"Yea," Niall conceded, he was going to add another comment but that's when he heard a raised voice which belonged to Sienna said,"I don't care, just get out of my house you asshole." 

"Sienna, I know I fucked up and I'm so really sorry," a feminine voice told her. The three looked at one another in confusion and Niall moved to the door, slowly opening the door enough to see what was happening. Zayn knelt down and had his brown eyes peering out in curiosity with him snuggled below Niall while Liam stood quietly over them seeing and listening too.

The girl was dressed in a complete black outfit with a leather jacket having it stained with a few drops of rain which were shimmering in the presence of light and Sienna's back was facing them. 

"Si, I really love you."

"Well I don't, so please walk out and tell Milo I'm blocking him for telling you my address."

"Sienna, please, I really didn't mean to."

"That's what every murderer says after committing the murder but it doesn't change the fact they committed it." Sienna mocked with disgrace and strolled to the main door.

"Sienna," the red haired girl said looking at her directly,"I miss you when I can't sleep," reciting what seemed to Zayn as song lyrics.

"Get sleeping pills then."

"Or right after coffee  
Or right when I can't eat"

"See a doctor then," Sienna shrugged with a roll of her eyes. 

"Still got sand in my sweaters  
From nights we don't remember" 

"That's the point I don't wanna remember them, especially with you!" Sienna replied with an annoyed tone. 

"Do you miss me like I miss you?"

"I fucking do not. Get over yourself and get out of my bloody house!" Sienna shouted at her. "And a bunch of bloody lyrics aren't gonna fetch me back."

"Si, please." She pleaded to her. Sienna caught her hand and legitimately threw her out of the house. "You forced me into this, stay away!" She quickly latched the door and sauntered swiftly to the kitchen and that was when Liam opened the door completely and followed the blonde to the kitchen with Niall and Zayn right behind him. "Are you okay?" Liam asked her. 

She slowly nodded her head and took a sip from her bottle of water. With that she quickly asked the boys to go back to the living room and give her a moment.  
When she returned, she got her pizza box. "Hopefully, we will find them before Gemma's wedding." She addressed them while sitting on the bean bag. "And in the next few days, I'll contact you guys and inform you about the progress regarding Sjöberg." 

"And that's all there is,"she told them," I am also sure that you've sabotaged my room and looked around so there isn't a need of showing you guys around."

"Yea," Niall confessed with flash of red on his cheeks. 

"Cool," she said with a thumbs up and then added,"so you guys can leave." 

"Yea." Liam supplied and rose from his seat again. Zayn followed his lead and walked out too, leaving Niall in the living room. He reluctantly moved himself to stand and trailed behind his friends who were waiting at the doorstep but then turned to the blonde girl,"Could I see your phone?" He asked randomly. Sienna was taken back and stared at Niall for a moment. "Why?"

"Please, Could I?"

She shrugged and brought the phone over and handed over to him with an unconvinced look. 

"Unlock it."

"Why?"

"Do as I say."

Sienna's eyes were still wondering what exactly was this particular man upto while his friends were anxiously observing the exchange too. 

Niall opened the dialling pad and quickly entered a few numbers and called it. Suddenly, Niall's phone buzzed into life and as soon as that was done, he disconnected.

"Call me if anything occurs." He said ambiguously and gave her the device. With that he left and gestured Liam and Zayn to leave.

After they seated themselves in the car, Zayn and Liam turned to him with a dubious look,"What?" Niall questioned and then explained,"she's nice. And she needs to contact someone about her findings."

Before the two could even object to it, Niall's phone vibrated. He unlocked the sleek black phone and tapped on the message from the number. Sienna's number.

'I don't date blondes :p :p ;) ;).'


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is basically a filler chapter for the next chapter.  
> More plot development. More characters and a lot of Niall and Sienna bonding coming this way.

Sienna sat with her laptop in the ridiculously large suite in New York City which had been booked by Zayn Malik for her. It had been over two months since they'd requested to speed up the process of finding them so that they could be in time for Gemma's wedding in the midst of April breeze but there had been no evidences or results whatsoever.

Zayn had decided very suddenly to bring Sienna to NYC while Gemma was wedding shopping there with Lottie, Anne and Jay. Sienna suspected that this was because she had given them a very intriguingly plausible theory, a few days prior. She had explained to them that there was a 40-60 chance of HarryandLouis turning up for the wedding if they didn't find them by then for the obvious reason that even if Harry would insist on staying hidden, Louis wouldn't listen to him and would make sure they attended the wedding, secretly but they would. And according to Zayn it made sense. He knew Louis and this would be the exact thing he'd do. So he'd decided that her presence would be useful.

Sienna had legitimately converted the room into a digital fortress with multiple laptops, wires, stabilizers spread out like a sheet on the granite floor. 

She had restarted hacking into Miss Sjöberg's highly protected files again. The first time she did it, the people on the other side clearly got a hint of it and her entire system spectacularly crashed. So here she was redoing everything she had already done. 

But right now, she was on a break and did what she did second best, read Larry fanfiction. As she continued to read the strings of words woven by imagination on the screen, Niall walked into the room which had its door ajar. 

"Who the fuck writes this kind of shit!?" She cursed very loudly and threw her phone on the bed. "Oh My God! Is she even fucking sane! I'm reporting this nonsense!" 

Niall chuckled, drawing her attention to him. Sienna's eyes narrowed at his figure and questioned crudely, "What do you want?" 

"What're you reading?"

"Fanfiction, Harry dies in the end." She explained which now made sense as to why she was cursing.

"We're having dinner, Zayn requested your presence." He informed her sauntering to the bed, picking up her phone and placing it on her lap. "Gemma and Lottie wanted to meet you too."

This grabbed her attention,"Why? I don't like them. I find them scary."

Surprise spread on Niall's face like the way light bestrew over sky before the sun rose. "Gem and Lotts? They're the most nicest people, you could meet."

"Well," she snorted, getting up from the couch right across the bed,"I prefer their brothers, I feel they're more amicable."

Niall let out a laugh,"They won't eat you up. Come on."

"And," he added,"It's Harry's birthday that's why everyone is gathering up in restaurant."

She looked at him incredulously,"Of course, I know it's Harry's birthday." But then she turned to Niall again,"Are there gonna be paparazzi?"

Niall shrugged,"No, it's a very private table which has been booked for us."

"So no paparazzi."

"Yea."

"I'll come," she agreed after a brief moment,"lemme change my clothes and put all this on a safety belt," she gestured at the gadgets thrown on the floor. 

"You're looking fine," he commented. She looked at him with lips pursed, clearly disapproved by his comment,"I'm in my pyjamas, give me ten minutes."

"They look good." Niall said with a shrug of his arms.  
Sienna's eyebrows arched pointedly with a smirk on her lips to compliment it,"Get out," she laughed and pushed him out of the room,"I won't take more than ten minutes, you can count if you want." 

He let out a sigh when he was pushed outside to move downstairs, he knew very well that she wasn't going to take ten minutes, it was definitely gonna exceed it. 

***  
***

A good forty minutes later, Sienna opened the door to see Niall waiting right outside, fiddling with his phone. Her eyes widened,"Are you serious? You waited?" 

Niall looked up at the girl, she was looking stunning, ripped jeans with a maroon full sleeved crop top and vans. She looked so beautiful, he just smiled at her and said,"Yea. I did."

"You're crazy," she stated and closed the door to her room. Sliding the card into her front pocket.

"We should probably leave." He suggested ignoring her comment. 

When they reached the restaurant, they noticed the Zayn and the others seated at the corner table. They passed by the golden lit room with tables draped in a delicate white to reach their destination. 

She took a seat and smiled at everyone present at the table.

It was an extremely awkward silence on the table while they ordered their food and it grew worse while they waited. 

Finally Gemma's voice directed a question towards Sienna,"So Sienna, what do you work as?"

"I am a dance instructor as of now."

"You're a professional dancer?" Zayn asked, both appalled and surprised. Liam added to clear any discrepancy, "Like you can do jumps and splits and all that stuff?"

"I can dance much better than the five of you, if that's what you mean." She teased them with a smirk.  
To this Zayn's lips thinned and he gave her a blank glare. "That's why we're singers and not dancers." Niall snorted.

"Of course." She agreed with the smirk in place, subtly mocking them. 

The waiter then approached them and dutifully served everyone their respective dishes before them. Having their orders before them, all the members seated around the table, they began their meal. After a few minutes Lottie cleared her throat and grabbed everyone's attention,"So, you've only completed high school?"

"That's a very sad story." She said with a dramatic sigh. "I dropped out in the last year of my Computer Engineering course."

"Ouch." Anne exclaimed. "Why dear?"

She brushed her hands through her strands and gave another sigh. "Because I didn't fit in, that's the most simplest explanation I can give."

"Which university?" Liam questioned.

"Harvard."

All eyes immediately snapped in her direction, clearly dripping with astonishment, Liam had his jaw dropped at this confession while his boyfriend had his eyes widened. Niall just stared at her blankly. 

"Harvard?" Lottie asked her. "Are you serious!?"

She nodded her and gave them a smile,"I'm not a self proclaimed genius. I'm honestly smarter than I look."

"Clearly." Jay remarked with a smile.

"And then, how'd you end up in LA?" Niall asked with authentic curiosity.

"I lived in LA before going to Cambridge," Sienna carefully answered, it wasn't a half-life anyway. 

"Did you not like Engineering?" Niall continued interviewing her.

She just glared at him with a lopsided smile,"I make a living out of my 'techie' skills." She told him purposefully mocking Zayn. 

"Just because you make a living out of it," Liam began.

"-it isn't necessary you should like it." Zayn completed. 

"Exactly," Niall agreed with a straight face and then continued,"Like all of us thought that we were all making good music but one of our friends thought that it wasn't the shit you'd listen to with a girl in a club when he is twenty two years old." He said purposefully referring to Zayn's interview.

Zayn looked as if he'd pounce on Niall for making that comment but Sienna's laughter resonated and changed the course of Zayn's annoyance towards her,"You know nobody really believed you when you said that." She informed them in the fit of her giggles. "'I'm a twenty two year old' it seems. It was the butt of all jokes for awhile. "

She continued to let out bubbles of giggles and then eventually halted,"Moving on," she said taking deep breaths,"I love coding and I'm good at hacking so I just lend my exquisite skills to disabled people."  
Everyone on the table nodded their heads in approval of her statement but just a few seconds later, the three of them simultaneously exclaimed,"Hey! We aren't disabled!"

***  
***

The dinner concluded with an elaborate desert for Sienna who had specifically asked for a descriptive fruit salad ice cream. By the end of the very quickly passed meal Sienna felt that Charlotte and Gemma had a sort of assured look on their face while Anne and Jay just consistently gave her smiles of confidence throughout. Zayn and Liam were involved another conversation having their eyes locked with one another, letting hardly a few whispers escape their lips accompanied with gentle touches her and there. They looked so peaceful. She wondered for a very brief amount of time if she would ever achieve that sort of sense of security and peace. Resigning from such dangerously perilous thoughts, she turned back to Niall who had engaged her in a conversation about golf which she was patiently listening to him when her phone began to vibrate. Glancing at the ID, she sighed and looked at the blonde man apologetically, "I have to take this, excuse me." 

"Yea, Sara?" She questioned and got up from her seat and walked across the room for a little privacy. 

Niall noticed the blonde's face slowly taken over by the mist of surprise and astonishment. Nodding her head, her hands were going on various gestures and her eyes had been widened through the call. After disconnecting when she returned to the table, she was immersed in a sea of troubled thoughts and Niall knew that.

She took her seat and looked absolutely fazed. Niall didn't know that what she was going to say would not only catch their attention but also confound them. 

"Modest! has been bought."

Liam's 'what?!' was the first to be heard followed by Zayn's 'how?!'

"Sjöberg. That's how."

"What the fuck!?" Zayn cursed out loud.

"Exactly." She replied to him and then asked the waiter to bring her ice cream up to her room. "I have to speed up this process of getting this ridiculous woman's identity, I'm moving upstairs."

Zayn nodded his head but then questioned,"Who informed this to you?"

"My friend, Sara Ashley." 

"The one who started the-"

"Find Larry movement." She completed, nodding their head. "She is in my dance class."

"Does she know-"

"-that I'm chilling with the people she worships?" She completed Zayn's question,"Nope." 

This caught Lottie's attention,"You aren't their fan?"

"Not really. I love Larry not One Direction."

Gemma looked like she'd just been told that cats could fly,"How can you ship Larry and not be a Directioner?"

"Exactly, my point!" Niall exclaimed while agreeing to Gemma. 

"See, if you like eating ice cream it isn't necessary for you to like milk just cuz ice cream is made out of milk." She retorted in a matter of fact demeanor which spread an air of humor accompanied with laughter. Sienna put her hands on her hips, appalled by their laughter, "What?! I gave a sensible reason!"

That was when the lights suddenly went out which made Sienna sit back on the her seat. "What on earth?"

They continued to sit there in darkness for another ten long minutes when Gemma finally broke the spell of silence,"Why are they taking so very long?"

"I have no clue," Zayn said looking around and finally switched on his phone but before he could call anybody, the lights flickered back on. 

"I'll move upstairs then." She said giving a smile at everyone, as soon as the lights switched on. 

"I'll accompany you," he suggested almost way too quick. She shook her head,"No, stay with your friends, what'll you do sitting up in my room?"

"Thanks for the dinner," she added looking at Niall meaningfully. Zayn looked at his friend with a look which asked him to give him the details of what was happening. 

Sienna exited and ran a worried hand through her platinum blonde hair, she liked Niall. A little too much. She stepped into the elevator and pushed herself inside the box and returned to her thoughts. Niall. He was so very gentle and understanding and kind. They just clicked, it felt inevitable. She was aware of the fact that he was absolutely ridiculously as sexually straight as straight could be. She definitely saw that he was trying to hit on her, it was crystal even to a blind man. 

She sighed and stepped out of mirrored box and walked down the hallway, finally reaching her room, she swiped her card and opened the door to her lavish room but all she felt was a rush of cold into her spine. A strange sort of numbness took over her, as she trekked deeper into her room and when she reached the heart of it all, her stomach sinked


	8. Chapter Eight

She called Niall immediately who got the others with him to see the sight of her room. All her laptops were broken, the screens were cracked with the device cut into two. The keypad had been removed with the internal organs of the laptop thrown shabbily on the floor. and

When the three of them arrived, they'd been jaw dropping and eyes widening. 

"What happened?" Niall asked looking at her.

"I have no clue." She sighed and sat on the floor touching her gadgets which were wet too. She closed her eyes devastation and sat down on the floor. Before Niall could reach out to her, she swiftly got up and moved towards her wardrobe. 

"Are your credit cards or anything else missing?" Zayn asked.

"I'm checking." She answered and went through her things. Turning towards them with her lip bitten,"Only my gadgets, my belongings are safe, my cards, cheques and everything else."

"I'll speak to the manager, right now," Liam said to her and walked out in complete fit of rage. 

"I need to buy new stuff. I can repair this as well but it's gonna take a while." She said to them. Zayn nodded his head and recommended,"We can go tomorrow."

"Yea." Sienna reluctantly agreed and sighed,"I'll clean this up."

"We'll call room service." Niall suggested instead. Sienna shook her head immediately,"I need to check up on these as soon as possible."

Liam walked back into the room much more angrier. Zayn turned towards him,"What happened babe?"

"Apparently, Taylor Swift is performing in MSG and that's why more than half the staff is with her and when I finally caught hold of the manager, he said that he'd get back to us."

Sienna gritted her teeth,"I need a new laptop, ASAP."

"You could use one of ours." Liam said generously. She shook her head,"It wouldn't be the type I'd require. I know where to get one." She said hurrying into the washroom with a change of clothes and her phone, dialling someone's number immediately.

The three looked at one another confusedly and saw her come out of the washroom in the same jeans but in a black full sleeved crop top . She shuffled between her clothes and her phone. "Text me the address, right now." She ordered into phone. "You're sure I'll get it as soon as possible, right?"

She nodded her head and folded her top, tossing it in her suitcase and then retrieved her jacket. Placing the jacket rougly over her shoulders and her credit cards in her pocket, she turned towards the guys. 

"Where do you think you're going?"

"To get my stuff before the hotel management clears off any tiny details on how this occured." She told the three of them.

"We'll come with you," Niall advocated. 

She shook her head immediately,"No, No, definitely no."

Zayn looked completely unconvinced and asked,"Why?"

"Because it is a place you guys are definitely not allowed." She told the off, pacing around the room.

"What do you mean?" Liam asked intrigued by her words. 

"Can you just listen to me and let me go by myself? I'll be fine." 

"New York is dangerous," Niall reasoned. She gave him a questioning brow,"Yea, right."

"He is right." Zayn agreed.

"Who asked your approval?" She asked him back. Niall came before her and halted,"All right, let me come then, just me."

"Bad idea," she insisted and got out of the room gesturing them to come out and locked her room door.

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to a place where you three of all people can't be spotted, no matter what." She hissed with a very serious undertone. "You guys are celebrities, you have a reputation to uphold."

Zayn snorted indignantly while Liam rolled his eyes and Niall just stared at her at the comment passed. "Where are you going?" 

"We're not letting you go all alone that's something you better be aware of." Zayn declared with determination etched in his voice. 

"I'll take one of your guards then but either of you three are not coming." She stated clearly cutting off any sort of loose ends. 

"Take Niall with you." Liam iterated.

"You do know," she said pacing towards the elevator with three of them trailing behind her,"that more we discuss about this, more is the time we're wasting."

"Sienna," Niall said stepping into the elevator and holding her hand, his brown eyes softened their glare,"I promise, I'll listen to you, take me with you."

Sienna was taken aback by this sudden display of affection and she somehow melted into telling,"Stay in the car then and don't intervene."

Niall just smiled and trailed behind her like a puppy while Zayn and Liam gave each other satisfied grins.

***  
***

When Sienna returned to the car, Niall was worried sick. She had left him alone in that wretched vehicle with his bodyguard for two entire hours, her phone was just ringing with no seeming chance of reply. 

"Where were you?!" Niall asked anxiously.

"I told you that I went to get stuff." She shrugged and got into the backseat of inconspicuous SUV. 

She removed her bag and removed the neatly packed red coloured laptop above the silver one. 

"You could've got this at any ordinary electronic shop." He told her with skepticism dripping in his voice.

"Not really, these babies are the way I want them. You don't get to surf the internet and laze around on this." She told him. "This is made for techies."

Niall shook his head in disapproval and asked the driver to start their drive back to the hotel. Turning his attention back to Sienna, he questioned,"What took you so long then?" 

"The place I've bought it from isn't really legal." She said taking a few gaps between the sentence. 

"What do you mean it isn't legal?!" He questioned with his eyebrows furrowing up.

"Well," she said trailing off deliberately trying to divert the topic but nothing came into her mind. 

"Well?" He prompted.

She sighed. "Black Market. That's where I got it. It's complicated but basically I have connections who give me stuff for a cheaper price with versions which will take a elaborately long time to make."

"That's why you didn't want the three of us there."

"Exactly, you get spotted in places like that, the public will go crazy."

"But places like that-"

"-are extremely dangerous and the one in New York City is like a hub not only for gadgets a few blocks away there are drugs and if you search hard enough you'll get drugs, cars and stuff like that."

Niall sighed and kept quiet for more than half the ride back and finally when they got out of the car into the lobby. "Sienna." He said grasping her attention. "You don't have to risk your life for this shit, okay?!"

Sienna pursed her lips and continued listening to him,"I know this is important. Haz and Lou are important but not worth your life, okay? You don't go running like that into illegal shit which can get you killed."

"It's dangerous, Sienna." He added and huffed like a child.

"Niall." She began slowly. "I can take care of myself, even if I get beaten up, it's none of your business." She told him seriously and put up a fake smile immediately which made Niall turn to see Zayn, Gemma and her fiancé strolling into the lobby. 

"You guys took a while for shopping." Gemma commented and smiled at Sienna and Niall. "Michael, this is Sienna."

Michael smiled and introduced himself to Sienna and shook his hands with Niall. They engaged in small talk immediately and then Sienna slowly slid out,"Malik," she called out and took him to the side putting an arm around his neck due to her leverage because of her high heeled boots.

"What's up?" He asked suspiciously.

She quickly removed an unidentified pack of cigarettes and slid it into his jacket pocket consecutively removed her hand. "What's that?"

"Spud."

His eyes popped out and looked at her with surprise. Zayn of all people definitely knew that Spud was a huge cigarette brand which grew extinct in the 1950's because of some testing but it had also been rumored that their main branch shifted to Mexico but itwas busted there too very recently and forced to shut down. Eventually only one crate of these cigarettes were left. 

"Where'd you get it?!"

"Where do you think?" She asked with a smirk taking full form on her lips.

"I've searched for it everywhere," he swore, "I didn't find it."

"It's the last one." She told him honestly. "I stole two sticks from your pack."

"Impressive." Zayn said patting his pocket with a smirk. "I owe you one Sienna."

"You'll owe me two, as soon as we find H and Lou."

"Of course, of course." He agreed quickly. He turned his head and felt something trickle down his jacket onto the surface of his neck. Touching the liquid, he brought it to see ,red. Bright red blood.

Widening his eyes, his gaze snapped towards Sienna and quickly ran into the elevator which she was in with Niall,"Sienna, you're bleeding." He stated and held the hand which had been around his neck. 

They quickly rushed her to the her room and called for a doctor to attend to her immediately. And after the doctor skillfully tied up herh hand to her palm, the three turned towards her.

"How'd this occur?" Niall asked her in all seriousness. 

Sienna was sure it was really pointless to lie,"I went handed the guy the money and was returning back after buying the cigarettes," she began narrating the entire story,"and I bumped into my class mate from college and he was a kind of bitch and then he tried to provoke me when it didn't occur he removed his knife to threaten me."

"And in that attempt to retaliate and save myself, this happened," she concluded while looking at her bandaged hand. 

"But why'd he provoke you?" Zayn asked her. 

"Perks of being in the LGBT community." She muttered to them with distaste and an unsatisfactory sigh.

The boys looked at one another in dissatisfaction and then Liam questioned, "You swing both the ways, right?" And added. "I saw the pictures with your ex boyfriend."

Sienna's jaw dropped at his announcement of invasion of privacy. "I knew I shouldn't have let you guys alone there."

"And FYI," she added looking at him,"I don't swing both the ways!"

"You swing all the ways?" Zayn suggested with a questioning look. When she didn't reply a sort of panic rose in Niall's heart,"You swing only in one way?"

She rolled get eyes and looked clearly annoyed,"I don't swing at all."

All their faces dropped and grew into a look of intrigue,"You're asexual?" Liam said truly taken aback with the confession. She averted her gaze to this said question. 

"That's why," Liam said with realization washing gently over him,"That's why you're avoiding Niall like the plague."

Sienna kept shut. 

And this was the cue which Zayn and Liam required to leave the room.

As soon as he heard the door click shut, Niall knelt down before her noticed that her head was bent down with tears streaming down her cheeks.

He gently wiped them off and stood up to sit right beside her. "Do you mind if I'd embrace you." He asked being a little more cautious about her boundaries now. She shook her head and muttered a quiet 'yes'. 

On hearing her approval, he gently maneuvered her into his arms. She almost instinctively placed her head on his chest and continued to cry. 

Niall held her close and gently stroked her hair to make her feel at ease which assuredly worked because Sienna was so much more calmer after it. 

"Tell me everything you think I need to know."

"I'm confused!" She confessed with exasperation. "I've know that I am asexual since I was fourteen. I've had relationships two serious ones. One was with the boy Payne saw and the other with Cecilia, the girl who came to my apartment."

"I don't know why I even like you!" She complained with tears still streaming down her eyes. "You're annoying, you're extremely goofy and stupid." She ranted but went completely off the topic, "then you're afraid of tattoos. You're a patient listener and you give a lot of space to people. You're so understanding and kind. I just like you."

"And you're a music sensation and I'm so afraid that even if this does work out," she said looking into his sea blue eyes,"Our worlds are so very different, how's it gonna happen!?"

Niall just smiled at her, pouring all the patience he had into listening to the girl and trying to ward off her anxiety. "Sienna," he started with a lingering smile. "I would like to give this relationship a shot. I like you, You like me, it's simple chemistry. That's all there is."

She looked at him with her doe like eyes lighting up in astonishment,"What about sex?"

"Everything isn't about sex, sweetheart." Niall said to her and squeezed her hand to reassure her. "We'll figure it out."

"But I do need to know your boundaries." He questioned her. 

"I think I'm demi-sexual but I am not sure, I've only kissed my partners."

"And that's satisfying enough."

"What about Barbara?

"Well, I liked initially but then turned out we weren't compatible at all. So broke it off."

"I didn't know that."

"Nobody does, we're still doing PR stunts."

"I like you."

"I like you too Sienna Marshall."


	9. Chapter Nine

An hour after Niall's declaration, Zayn had quickly called the pair down to Gemma's room and when Zayn did say this, Niall thought he had an undertone of haste and seriousness.

When they did turn up in Gemma's room, everyone was in tears. Zayn looked like he was controlling every emotion he had reign over while Liam was seated on the sofa bent down with his hand covering his face. Gemma was before the TV and was crying uncontrollably alongside Anne and Lottie. Jay's eyes looked blank, as if a sort of despair had taken over her.

"What happened?" Niall voiced out first. 

Zayn averted his gaze and gulped. Slowly moving to the remote, he restarted the entire what Niall assumed a clip. And as soon as he did this, Harry and Louis' face were plastered on the screen.

"Hi!" Harry's smile greeted the people present in the room. 

"What the hell?!" Niall exclaimed with his eyeballs popping out. 

"Listen to the entire thing." Zayn sniffed.   
As the video proceeded the atmosphere grew more morose and depleting the characteristic happiness in the entire room. 

Towards the end of the video,"Gems," Louis began acontinued with his voice growing hoarse,"We've made this video specifically for you, I have to include the fact that Niall, Liam and Zayn are the most wonderful people who are there to take care of you and our families."

"We do realize that the three of you still make time to keep and eye on our families and we couldn't have been more grateful." Harry thanked with a lingering smile. "Not to forget that your music is as amazing as you guys are-"

"-and!" Louis interrupted with a jumpy gesture. "Congratulations on Ziam! Woah! Cheers to you both!"  
Harry was looking at him skeptically,"Congratulations, Li and Zee on the fact that you solved everything what was going on between you and we wish you all the very best." He said a refined version of what Louis just commented.

"Even though Larry has a bigger fan base!" Louis piped in. 

"Louis!" Harry called out dissapprovingly.

"What!? It does!"

"It does." Sienna thought with a smile forming on her lips.

"And Niall, we are so very proud of you!" Harry said honestly. 

"Yea, apparently Harry clearly," Louis intervened again,peering at him from the corner of his eyes,"has a favourite song, he loves, 'This town' so much that we've bought so many CDs and most of them aren't working because Harry needs to listen to it like it's the air he breathes." Louis complained.

"It's a nice song!" Harry on the screen reasoned. Louis just rolled his eyes and averted the topic,"But yeah leaving that aside, Niall we hope the best for you too."   
And the screen went blank.Gemma then showed Niall and Sienna the tiara which came along with it. A solid white gold tiara. It was a whirl of asymmetric designs studded with diamonds in a lace like fashion. Having tiny blue sapphires neatly stacked at the periphery giving it a touch of intricacy and royalty together.

"Do you mind if I see it?" Sienna questioned. She grimly nodded in response and Sienna quickly examined it and took a few pictures of it on her phone.   
The air had grown sufficiently suffocating, Niall was on the verge of tears and sat down on the nearest chair and slowly his eyes gave way to all the tears which had been home to it.

***  
***

The morning had been tremendously tiring for all of them because of the occurrence of the night prior. Everyone had been terribly upset and went separate ways to their respective rooms to get time off alone to think. 

So the next day Zayn, Liam and Niall found Sienna holed up in her room awake but having a big set of headphones over her ears and was working on something on her laptop. 

"What's up?" She asked them taking her headphones down and inviting them into her room. 

"Did you even sleep yesterday?" Zayn asked her looking at her disheveled state. She shook her head pronouncing a negative response. "Sleep isn't a priority right now, I had a lot to figure out."

"And did you figure it out?"

"Yea, kinda." She said sitting back on the floor and sipping her coffee after retrieving it from near the leg of her sofa. "Firstly I'm gonna kill, Miss Sjöberg."

"Why?" Liam questioned.

"She was the one who orchestrated the murder of my darlings." She growled looking back at the screen, referring to laptops. 

Zayn stiffled a laugh at her comment and then questioned her with a mask of seriousness,"How do you know this?"

"Well, I hacked into the hotel's system and duplicated the guest list, after which I found out that a certain Miss Sjöberg was banked on the topmost floor, Taylor Swift's floor." She narrated with a sour expression. "And then I tapped into the CCTV footages and guess what I found?"

"What?" Liam prompted.

"Nothing. The footage on that bloody floor is deleted and the footage during that ten minute time period when the lights went off doesn't fucking exist!"   
That was when her phone went on,interrupting her reply to the boys who just groaned. 

Answering the call,she had a very brief conversation with the person on the other end. Requesting him to send whatsoever she ordered as soon as possible, she disconnected the call.

"What was that all about?" Niall asked.

"Nothing important, really," she shrugged and turned to them. 

"So, any leads regarding the video?"

"I didn't watch it enough number of times," she justified reasonably,"I thought it would be a bad idea to ask the CD in yesterday's circumstance."

The three of them nodded understandably and then moved on,"We thought of releasing the video in the press but there was a note from them which specifically asked us not to do that with the CD."

To which she responded with a deflated sigh,"Sensible." 

***  
***

After their return to LA, the group has disbanded into their work stations, Sienna had moved back into her apartment and was working, as hard as possible to get the slightest hint to find Harry and Louis. 

Not more than often, Niall stayed over at her place and they'd spend a lot of time taking about golf and dance. He'd told her about so many things and she'd returned the favor by giving him access to her random experiences but things really got serious when he asked her to accompany him to Gemma's official engagement party and she had quietly agreed, even though she kept ranting about the fact that if they'd go public with their relationship, it would get jinxed.  
Seated in the jet black limousine beside Niall, Sienna looked absolutely gorgeous, she was wearing a pale pink strapless floor length gown which looked perfectly elegant with the diamond earrings Niall had gifted her alongside the dress. 

It had been a beautiful evening under the glow of velvety golden light of the ballroom which had been booked especially for this specific issue. It wasn't an elaborate party but had enough celebrities to get paparazzi to surround the hotel it was taking place in something which Gemma didn't mind, as long as they didn't enter where the main event occurred. 

When the limousine halted, Sienna's grey eyes met his sea blue with a glimpse of worry to which Niall smiled reassuringly and kissed her forehead which Sienna didn't know why calmed her spirits down more than it was supposed to. 

Opening the car door, a flash of flickering lights occured and Niall stepped outside. Giving Sienna his hand, he gently helped her out and without waiting for another moment lead her into the lobby but before they could actually reach the elevator, they saw Liam arrive in another limo. Only Liam. Simultaneously followed by a taxi which brought in Zayn. Liam paid for the taxi which brought his boyfriend in and they bickered their way to the two.

Giving a confused look to one another, the pair waited for their friends. Before they could even ask,"He took forever to get his hair done!" Liam complained.

"So you left me!" Zayn accused unbelievably. 

"You deserved it!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"I love my hair!"

"Even I love your hair but it doesn't mean you spend so much time on it!"

Sienna looked at Niall with a risen eyebrow, he just shook his head with a chuckle subtly telling her to ignore them. 

When they entered the party, it looked as if the most of the Styles-Cox family was present alongside the Tomlinsons and selected celebrities here and there. It had been not long enough before the entire squad had settled in Gemma's house. Her fiance had left immediately since he had a few errands to run for in NYC thus the entire room had been occupied by the three boys, Sienna, Lottie and Fizzy. Though Niall had disappeared to get drinks for a while, when he returned to the classically white painted room was filled with laughter and an air of happiness.

Raising an eyebrow, Niall led himself into the room which was sprawled with human beings. Specifically his friends.

Sienna was seated on the floor with her back against the leg of the bed while Zayn and Liam were snuggled into one another's neck chuckling uncontrollably were seated right next to her and Lottie, and Gemma were resonating the laughter having their heads thrown back during the course of the giggles. 

"What's going-" but before Niall could even complete his sentence Lottie's chuckle intervened withher giggles,"Niall!" She said looking up at him and then burst into a fit of giggles again. "You're girlfriend-"

"-is bloody mental! That's what she is!" Liam completed and began laughing again. 

"I'm scarred!" Zayn screamed. 

"I told you not to read it," Sienna retorted with a shrug. 

"I was gone for ten minutes?" Niall asked and then looked at them surprisingly,"What'd she do in ten minutes?"

"Niall." Sienna said with an absolute straight face. "You excused yourself at 11. Check the time now."

Niall turned his head towards the clock hanging on the wall opposite to where he stood, which had it's arms pointed toward one. Niall widened his eyes,"I guess I lost track of time." He said placing the drinks on the dressing table which was vacant. 

"I was talking to my manager, he was telling something about the tour." He added to his justification and then crawled back to the original topic. "What'd she do?"

"Well," Zayn said with a straight face,"she!" He said pointing accusingly at Sienna,"made us read-"

"Fanfiction!" Liam completed.

"It was HILARIOUS!" Lottie said with a drunk smile. 

"She made us read so many fanfictions!" Zayn whined,"and it scarred me!"

"I told you not to read that one!" Sienna piped in and got up to get a beer.

"What was in it?" Niall asked intrigued by it.

"It was a relationship between LouisandHarry." Zayn began with a disapproved expression. "And it had sex! In fact it had only sex! Like ten thousand words of fucking sex between my best friends!"

"How am I supposed to get this out of my head!" He asked dramatically.

"Act it out with Liam," Sienna suggested spilling a little beer on the floor due to her trail of giggles. This one comment brought the roof down with the amount of laughter released. 

"That was such a good reply!" Lottie said in between her laughter. 

"I swear!" Gemma agreed laughing at Zayn and Liam's expense who had their cheeks burning with a bright red flush. 

"That sounded so much like something Louis would say." She said wistfully. Everyone nodded to her observation and smiled at one another. 

"You know," Sienna started suddenly to diffuse the atmosphere," I shipped Liam and Louis once."

Everyone in the room turned towards her with astonishment written on their face while Zayn, specifically was watching her in such a manner that Sienna was grateful that looks didn't kill because she was positive that she would be dead otherwise.   
"And then Larry happened." She concluded but Zayn's glare was constant on her. And then Niall came in.

"You know," Niall addressed to her,"that sounds like Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran dating one another which certainly doesn't exist."

"I disagree." Gemma retorted as soon as, he said this. 

"So do I," Sienna and Lottie said simultaneously. Lottie then squint her eyes to give off a suspicious look,  
"Something is definitely up with the two of them." 

"It is." Sienna said to her. "It's kinda becoming more and more evident nowadays." She commented remembering the way Ed held onto Taylor during the engagement party. It was a surprise that Taylor even agreed to attend Harry's sister's engagement party as a plus one alongside Ed and to add that she behaved so pleasingly polite was something to raise an eyebrow in suspicion for. 

"Are you guys serious?" Zayn asked looking baffled by the point put forward by the three women.

"Yea. Something is definitely up with them!" Gemma said nodding her head in affirmation. 

"Why do I not have these skills!?" Niall snorted. 

"Speaking of Ed," Liam carved a new piece of information,"he mentioned about this charity function Taylor and him are organising next month, he said it would be nice if the three of us could join."

"And what'd you guys say?" Gemma asked while gesturing Liam to get a beer for him too.

"Well, Niall is starting tour and Zayn is dropping his single so he'll be busy with promo." Liam informed and handed Gemma the beer."I said I'll try."

Giving an approving look, Zayn turned to Sienna, clawing the same topic. 

"But that doesn't mean you can ship Louis and Liam!" Zayn said, clearly bothered with the fact that Sienna revealed. 

"If I was still shipping them, I wouldn't be helping you Malik." She said pointing out the obvious, yet again. "And Larry over any ship, any day."

"Why not Ziam?!" Zayn argued unreasonably which got a chuckle from his boyfriend. 

"Cause Larry is cuter!" She argued and then Niall backed his girlfriend up by telling, "And Louis or Harry wouldn't leave a band cuz they're twenty two year olds who-"

"Oh shut up!" Zayn groaned which once again filled the room with laughter. 

When it finally died down, Gemma was the first one to grab their attention,"I wish they just came back."

"I'd do anything," she added.

This quirked Sienna's attention and she looked at her with a straight face,"Anything?"

"Anything."

"Would you give up that Tiara too?"

This snapped the eyes of everyone present in the room towards Sienna with an astounding look on their face but she had her eyes fixed on the bride to be.

"I would."

"Would you let me perform an experiment on it with no assurance of retrieving it back safely?"

"Why do you want to perform it?"

"I need to know if that piece is made by Tiffany."

"Which will draw out what conclusion?"

"That I think I'd know who Miss Sjöberg is."


	10. Chapter Ten

"Who is it!?" Zayn asked questioning with hurried approach.

"I need the tiara first only then it would be a possibility."

Gemma didn't need to be told twice, she quickly went to fetch the tiara while Sienna removed her phone and called someone. Having a very brief conversation which mainly consisted of her telling the person on the end to cancel some particular order.

"What was the order about?" Liam asked curiously. 

Sienna sighed and looked at them,"It was a replica of what arrived for Gemma."

"Why?" Zayn questioned. 

"Ensuring that she'd replace the original with the fake one, if I didn't consent into giving her the tiara." Gemma answered to his question instead to which Sienna visibly shook her head telling that, that was the plan.

Zayn looked clearly unimpressed along with the others but Gemma knelt down and gave her the tiara,"I'm glad, you're helping us, I'm sure that you will be able to find them."

"But she just was planning on replacing-" Lottie reasoned, clearly disappointed by the revelation but she was cut off by Liam,"No, Lotts. She is working with her brain over here and if she can go to this extent to find a possibility of a clue, I think she wasn't wrong in doing this."

Niall piped in an agreed, while Zayn reluctantly nodded alongside Lottie. 

"I thought all of you would pounce on me!" She sweat dropped and gave a nervous smile. 

Taking the box, she looked at Gemma,"Where is the kitchen?"

"Left side."

She got up and trailed to the kitchen while the others trailed behind her. Keeping the tiara aside, she took the abrasive pad but noticed it was wet and turned,"Gemma, do you have a dry one?"

After Gemma handed her the dry one, Sienna gave a sigh and began rubbing against the smooth metal. Very slowly and gently white flakes came down on the surface and rubbed off on Sienna's hand. She continued to scrub the inside of the tiara and she let out a smile which said relief.

She turned to the rest of the people in the room,"It's from Tiffany!" She said with a smile.

"Now can you tell us?" Niall requested with a hint of impatience in his voice.

She nodded her head and licked her lips and the hesitantly revealed,"Ed Sheeran." And before they could respond she added a quick,"Hear me out!"

"After checking the guest list, I went to the floor above us and saw who was staying in the room which Miss Sjöberg had booked, it was him." She addressed the people in the kitchen. "And then I was as unconvinced as you guys are and I googled a few things and I was made aware of the fact that Ed Sheeran frequents, The French Laundry very often and even owns a house near it."

"Leaving the fact aside that he is extremely generous when it comes to charity, I looked up and he has been linked with 'Believe In Magic' numerous times." She narrated slowly so all of them could follow. "And he has just climbed up the ladder of Tiffany's favourite clients."

After she halted, she took a deep breath and looked up at everyone before continuing,"If we think about it logically, it makes sense. Harry was so very close to Ed and if he would've turned to him for help, it would make sense."

"But Sienna," Niall contradicted,"Ed is tryna help us too."

"Obviously, if he helps you and knows about your plan, he'll obviously be two steps ahead!" 

Niall looked as if revelation had occurred to him in the that statement, Zayn and Liam looked like they were swimming in a deep array of thoughts while Lottie and Gemma seemed lost. 

Sienna quietly waited unti she'd get a response from the three while the tap dripped in the background, it was awfully quiet before anyone even dared to comment. 

"It's just a possibility, right?" Niall asked her. She gave him a grim expression which vibrated with uncertainty,"Yes, until I can knock down his/her system and confirm it."

"It's something to definitely start on." Zayn commented. 

"Exactly!" Lottie assented. 

"Maybe Liam should attend that event," Gemma suggested looking up from the table where her gaze had been fixed for a while now.

And Liam hadn't agreed to anything more.

***

***

It had been tiring for Sienna, more than half a month had gone by and she had still not achieved the progress, she was supposed to. Niall had started tour a week after the part and he had been so tired and busy. And since he wanted to start the tour from Ireland first, the fact that he was an ocean away didn't help. She tried to fill her days with dancing and searching for Larry.

She had listened to the CD on repeat and hardly got a few linkers. Though the summary and the order of them detailing this had been etched her brain. The two boybanders had spoken about everything which wouldn't sell them out. They had not mentioned anything about how the disappearance came about but mentioned that they did have a few problems in the initial year of their comparatively domesticated life and then narrated how they had gotten married and mentioned how beautiful it was and how much they missed them that night. Consequently, they arrived to the topic of Gemma's wedding. After conveying their wishes, Harry had very carefully worded and said that they wouldn't be able to make it. 

After Gemma's engagement party night, Sienna had gained over ten thousand followers on Twitter and IG just because she was spotted with Niall, even though he kept shrugging off that she was just a friend to keep her away from public attention and she was honestly grateful in that aspect. Though she was well aware that it wouldn't stay long that way because it had been almost more than a month since they had gotten involved and to the industry Niall belonged that itself was a great achievement.

All these thoughts came into her brain like a slow train while she halted the taxi near the back door of the dance academy since her bike wasn't functioning appropriately. The Academy of performing Arts was not only reputed but also had fame enough to win numerous number of competitions everywhere around the world and because of a friend's recommendation and the show casing of her skills, she worked both as an instructor and also danced with the others there. 

Walking into the academy after Gemma's party had been worse than National Emergency, everyone was asking her how'd she get into his pants in the most subtle way possible.

In fact a few of her supposed 'friends' halted to talk to her. Everyone except for Sara who had spoken to her normally with no wave of questions or remarks. And that was why Sienna told her the truth. The real thing. And Sara had been so generous to not only forgive her but also help her in her analysis. 

So when she saw this brunette friend in the opposite room, she gave her a warm smile and moved to her dance hall where her dancers awaited.

As soon as she entered, she felt a wave of unrest pass through her body who's source were the people in the room who stopped their converstion when she entered the room. 

"Good evening." She said addressing all of them and keeping her bag against the wall.

"I hope you guys are done with your stretches or some form of exercise."

They nodded quietly and looked at one another hesitantly and took their positions which she had originally allotted.

When the time for a water break came in, both Sienna and the dancers were partly distracted. She sat down on the light brown floor, leaning on the mirror and removed her phone from the charger which it was connected to. 

Dialling Niall's number, she picked herself and moved to the balcony which was connected to the room. 

"Yea, Sienna?" said the voice on the other side.

"Where are you?"

"In my hotel room." 

"And when are you returning to LA?"

Niall's chuckle filled her stomach with tiny butterflies,"Are you missing me already?"

"Just come back soon." She said to him showing faux nonchalance in her voice. 

"Of course sweetheart."

"Niall," she said seriously with a frown forming on her face,"I'm missing you."

"Sienna, I'm closer than you think, love." He said to her and even though they were miles away, she could hear his smile of reassurance in her ears and in a strange way it calmed her untamed spirits down.

She let out a sigh,"Come back home soon? Okay?"

"Sure love."

She disconnected the call and returned to the hall, resuming their practice accompanied with questioning stares.

***

When the practice concluded, she asked her team to stay and put her hands on her hip and looked at them skeptically. 

The bright lights made the her tattoo on her stomach shimmer due to her perspiration. A trickle of sweat swayed itself on her temples which Sienna promptly wiped it away. Her entire team was acting excessively strange. It had been a while since she had taught them and this was the first time after Gemma's engagement party because she was on the dance team for a competition taking place in MSG in five months. So some other instructor had taken up her place for the times, she'd go for her training sessions with the others. 

"What's up with you guys?" She asked sharply looking around. They clearly wanted to ask her something which was why most of them were so distinctly distracted and having odd conversations with their eyes. 

"Alice," she called out the girl in front wearing joggers,"What's happening?" The girl looked like a deer caught in headlights, completely surprised by the direct question thrown at her. 

Sienna stalled for a few minutes and got positively no answer and just a few glimpses at one another, prompting one another to ask her. After receiving absolutely no response, she was going to snap at them but was intervened by the vibrations of her phone. 

When she reached the phone, she noticed it was Niall on the ID. Wrapping the phone in her palm,, she turned to the people present in the room. "I don't know why all of you are so distracted and since you aren't willing to share it with me also. I expect all of you to get your mind off the place it's wandering off to!" She addressed all of them in a hurried manner and received the call while picking her bag from where she had placed it. "Hello?" She answered and moved around gesturing the dancers to leave.

"Sienna!" The other side came alive cheerfully. 

"What's up?" She asked worriedly since they had spoken just a few minutes back. 

"Sienna." He literated again like her name was a prayer.

"Tell me."

"I kinda realized something." He said in a slow manner which was killing the dancer. "And I don't want you to freak out."

"Okay." She said quietly but her insides were churning with anxiety. 

"I think I love you."

And if this didn't flip Sienna, nothing else would. A thousand thoughts crashed into her head with a feeling of warmth and unease walking together into the folds of her epidermis.

"I know you aren't ready for this and I'm not expecting you to return these sentiments either but I think you should know that I've finally felt what Harry and Louis felt so many years back. How they just fit!" He said, excitedly and continued his confession. "How this magnitude of right with somebody who just fits into you can never ever be wrong." 

Sienna gulped and had emotions filled into her to the brim. She was trying to contain her emotions as much as possible but clearly her eyes gave in and she was staring blankly on the floor pf the room which was clearly empty. She slowly moved to the balcony to clear the suffocation in the room to see a lot of people right before her, on the street. Paparazzi. Specifically.

Sienna then thought to just go home while Niall was still on the phone with her. "Sienna?"

"Yea. I'm listening." She said making sure her voice didn't sound too hoarse. 

"Are you angry?"

"No. No. No. Why would I?" She asked wondering why he would ask that when that was actually the most beautiful thing she had ever heard."I'm just-"

"-confused." He completed. 

"Yea."

"We'll figure it out."

"I guess." She said finally moving to the door which locked her from the outside world. 

"Do you still miss me?"

"I do."

"I don't think so you'll be missing me anymore."

"Why do you say so?" She asked and unlocked the door to see Niall right before the door.

Her eyes widened and her smile grew wide enough to hurt her cheeks. Instinctively placing her arms around his neck and pulled him into the warmest embrace, she could provide him with. 

"Gods!" She exclaimed. "You had an interview!" She accused jabbing his arm.

"I didn't. I lied." He said with his boyish grin. 

"Clearly!"

"I missed you." He said kissing the top of her head and embracing her again. 

"I missed you more." She said and reluctantly pulled off from his chest. 

Carefully placing his arm around her shoulder, flanked by guards, the pair exited the academy to have a night all themself.


	11. Chapter Eleven

Sienna was seated in the uncomfortable washroom cubicle with all her devices plastered to the wall and a microphone in her ear which connected her to the other three, the fact that she was in a black bandage dress with astonishingly high heel didn't help either.   
The frame of the marbled floor cubicle was solid enough to hold her gadgets with bright lights casting everywhere, Sienna began her work on cracking the database down.

Zayn and Liam's constant flirting in the background didn't help at all. At one point Sienna even snapped at the two of them and asked them to do their god damn work, which wasn't sing, it was observe, in particular Ed Bloody Sheeran. 

"But I can't see him anywhere!" Zayn reasoned. 

"Sienna?" Niall intervened on the junction. "Please, hurry up! I can't stall them for longer!"

Sienna wiped the perspiration off her temples and sighed,"Hold on sweets! It's almost done."

Rolling her eyes, she ignored Zayn and concentrated on the task at hand when Liam thought it was okay to start his commentary,"This feels so much like some secret mission the four of us are a part of. Like with microphones and hacking and cool stuff like that?"

"Liam," Sienna began with gritting her teeth,"I am sure that I can do without your commentary and Zayn's!"  
Which made everyone on the conference chuckle in relief, when all of a sudden Zayn and Liam's of the connection grew bland. But before she could ask them what happened there, "Hacked!" She exclaimed in between and caught the attention of all the three men. 

"Sienna? Niall?" Liam spoke as though he a wave of shock was passing through him. "Taylor Swift just said Ed couldn't make it and there is a generous amount coming from both Ed and a certain Miss Sjöberg."

The three men continued to discuss about the plans while Sienna stayed dumb for awhile. 

"Sienna, are you there?" Zayn asked snapping her attention though she still didn't respond to them at all. 

"Sienna?" Liam called this time but no response.   
That's when Niall's voice came to life,"Guys, she's back with me."

Sienna's face looked stoic. It was like no sort of emotion had ever graced the skin of her face, it looked as if she was in a deep sort of thought process and she was lost in nebula of those thoughts which could explain anytime before her. Quietly grazing Niall's side who had bought her a sparkly diamond bracelet and neck piece. He put his arm around her waist and looked at her pale grey eyes which were clearly lost in clouds or oceans or in binary digits, he did not know but he instinctively placed his lips on top of hers and withdrew in a few seconds and strangely so, she was calmed down completely and walked with him to the car while the sun was still blazing alongside the sky.

"What happened?" Niall asked her gently stroking her cheeks. She took a deep breath and turned towards him to begin her answer but was interjected by the rings of her phone. 

Niall saw the frown on her face deepening and her eyebrows furrowing further into her forehead. He knew whatsoever was the news, it was worrisome. 

"What happened?" He asked again. 

"Let's fetch Liam and Zayn too." She added and began searching for a few things on the internet. 

*** 

Liam and Zayn joined the two of them in their SUV after the conclusion of their charity event and took their seats in the car. Zayn noticed the look of panic painted on the face of Niall while he bit his nails.   
Sienna directed the driver to take them to Beverly Hills and turned to the three men. "It's not Ed."

"Then who is it?" Zayn alternated confused by this sudden change of course. 

"Taylor Swift."

"WHAT!?" The three of them cried out together.   
She held her hands in an attempt of gesture to calm their horses down,"I know it makes absolutely no sense."

"But it does." She muttered in distaste. "She dated Harry and all of them thought that they hated each other after the break up, what if that didn't happen?"  
"What if they become such good friends that she was willing to sacrifice her identity and take a vow of silence to protect her friend?" She asked the three who looked positively unconvinced. 

"Think about it, she is a powerful enough celebrity to wield sufficient power to not only silence The French Laundry but also The Ritz. More than Ed, Taylor has frequented the restaurant, in fact she was the one who introduced it to him."

"And she is a very old client of Tiffany's." Sienna added and then continued. "Ed never buys jewellery from this place until he is with Taylor and after checking their database, I noticed that there was a very discreet order placed for a tiara and the order was under the name Sjöberg."

"So when I checked out the CCTV footage of that particular day. It was there but protected with another set of codes. After cracking them, I saw this," she said showing the three of them and handing over her laptop.

The room was painted a dull shade of cream. All the furniture was classically carved wood with the sofa set being placed towards right of entrance while two majestically carved chairs were situated right before a rich brown desk having a few files and a luxurious Apple iMac in the side. 

Taylor was seated on the sofa in a dull blue dress with a man who looked young in the perfectly tailored crip suit. 

"So this tiara, you want it to be made of solid white gold and border it with a few sapphires, Miss Swift?"

"Yes, Arnold."

"And you want us to not engrave Tiffany on it?"

"If it is possible, yes."

The man sighed and removed his glasses and looked at her with his electric blue eyes which rivaled her own,"Miss Swift, you do know that even though you've been with us since so very long, we can't just hide the engraving."

Taylor rolled her eyes and was going to retort before 'Arnold' retorted in response.

"But I can give you an alternative." He said. "If we make it out of silver, I can ask them to lighten the engraving and since silver is highly reflective it won't be easy to identify it."

"Do that then."

"And you want it under the false name-"

"Sjöberg."

"And you want us to deny that we even made it for you, if any sort of investigation occurs."

"Exactly."

'Arnold' sighed and paced around the room for a while with Taylor's eyes clearly plastered to his moves. "Very well Miss Swift."

Taylor gave him her smile and got up from her seat and shook his hand,"And I would like this conversation to be highly classified, could you do that?"

"Of course," he said like an obedient puppy.

From the amount of conversation which took place in the walls of the restricted cabin, it was so very clear that she was Miss Sjöberg. She turned to look at the three men,"That's not all." She said trying to curb her surprise while the men remained with shock present on their face like a haze.

"Sara's mum is a very active social worker, I didn't know about this until very recently," She explained calmly,"I asked if she knew a Sjöberg." 

"And?" Zayn prompted impatiently.

"She gave me her number which she herself got after a lot of research." 

"Did you call on it?" 

"I'm not that stupid to actually do such a thing and then ask why has her security increased even more." She reasoned with Zayn who stopped to think for a moment and said,"Yea, she would've heightened her security and it would be more difficult for us to find her."

"Instead, I looked that number up and it was registered under the name Rick Barker and guess who he is?"

"Taylor's manager." Zayn sputtered knowingly and said,"When I worked with her in 'I don't wanna live forever' my manager mentioned how much of work Rick had put into Taylor and how much of a healthy friendship they sported."

The three men just stared at one another, the browns and blues having conversations which her grey could certainly not decipher. Eventually they turned to her,"You want to confront Taylor?"

Sienna looked taken back with the accusation and rose an eyebrow in disbelief,"Why would I want to confront her?" She asked with a smirk,"I want the three of you to do this without me."

"Us?!"

"They are your friends, right?" She asked them with a glare.

Liam was not comfortable with confronting this woman and it was painted on his face while Niall shifted uncomfortably and Zayn just stared at her blankly. 

 

"You can do it." She assured the three of them, as they halted before Taylor's gate.

When the guard asked for their identification, she looked at him,"One Direction or what's left of them." She said with a chuckle, earning a glare from all of them. "Inform Miss Swift that it's more important than 'Reputation'." She added with a smirk.

"Reputation?" Niall asked as soon as the guard was gone.

"It's her next album's name."

"She's launching an album?!" Liam asked surprised and then Zayn took over,"When did that happen!?"

"Yep. With a lot of Angst in it. No, I don't know when it happened though." She said to the two of them but before she could give any more details, the gates opened and the driver catapulted them into the Swift property. 

If anything was majestic or dramatic it was Taylor Swift, the 'Wuthering Heights' property was the most beautiful estate which Sienna's house had the fortune of seeing. It was elegant and regal both trapped the grounds. As they halted before the entrance, an impressively dressed chauffeur awaited to show them the way upto their mistress. 

"Go." Sienna said to the three of them.

"You aren't coming?" Niall asked her with puppy dog eyes.

"Nope." She said moving her attention back to her laptop, skillfully ignoring Niall's attempt to lure her.

"Let's go." Zayn mumbled, annoyed with the fact Sienna wasn't coming and turned to Niall,"Come on. We have to do it."

"Go! MALIK!" She cheered with her eyes stuck to the screen and turned to add something,"And don't run around the bush. The more you do it, the more easily, she'll convince you, she doesn't know where they are."

"And Malik!" She called after him, he looked at her with questioning brow,"Go with the bad boy look with your eyebrows furrowed and lips thinned into a line, like you're gonna kill somebody."

Niall and Liam burst into a round of laughter looking at Zayn who just stared disapprovingly at Sienna.

 

***

The chaffeur led them to the spotless white walled room which was most probably the living room where Taylor was seated on the rich looking sofa by the fireplace which had ashes still scattered around it. 

They seated themselves on sofa situated opposite to where Taylor was. She was still in the same frock she had worn for the Charity Event. The heavily embroidered white laced frock which halted on her knees. Her blonde hair tied up in a ponytail with her bright red lipstick remaining perfectly undiminished on her lips.

She smiled at them while her butler brought in a tray of glasses filled with a followed by a maid who brought in a tray of biscuits accompanied with tea.

"Please excuse me, I need my tea," Taylor apologized which almost made Liam choke due to the amount of politeness she put into the statement. 

"While you guys can have something too." She added.

"We're good." Zayn responded a little too quickly.

"Very well then," she said,"to what do I owe the presence of One Direction or what's left of them?" She asked with a grin. Niall rolled his eyes while Liam just glared at her.

"Where are Harry and Louis?" Zayn asked remembering what Sienna had directed them to do. 

"Why would I know about that?" Taylor asked confusedly .

"Oh shove it, Taylor. We know you know about it." Niall spat in distaste. 

"Well well, even if I do why on earth should I actually concede to give you their information?" She asked sipping her tea, as though this matter was as negligible as painting her toe nail. Zayn and Niall exchanged glances and turned to Liam who was clearly agitated with her annoying trailing around the topic,"Can we just get this over with? Tell us where they are."

"All in good time." Taylor replied with a smile and turned her blue eyes towards Niall,"Where is your girlfriend?"

"She's my friend." Niall lied and shrugged his shoulders.  
"Even Edward Sheeran is just a friend," she said rolling her eyes. 

"He is." Liam commented. "You're with Tom Hiddleston. I heard he proposed to you."

"Even Zayn proposed to Perrie, we know how that ended." She smirked which earned a eye roll from Zayn.  
"Anyway," she said disregarding the topic,"get Sienna here, I'll tell you where your friends are."

If Niall wasn't baffled at the least he was confused why she was asking for Sienna's presence. "Why do you want her?"

"Get her upstairs, I'll tell you where Harry and Louis are." She said with a shrug. 

The three looked at one another and Zayn nodded his head at Niall and sighed.

After asking Sienna to join them which she very reluctantly agreed to, they remained in the room with Taylor as an awkward silence persisted in the midst.   
Taylor called one of her butlers and instructed a few orders to him which included the words jet, pilot, Halifax and Helicopter.

Sienna walked into the living room and Niall was sure nobody missed the air of animosity which just grew when her ice grey eyes met Taylor's ocean blue. 

"What do you want me here for?" She asked the men in black.

"I asked for you." Taylor intervened grasping her attention. "I need your help for a few errands." She said pausing and then stressing on the 'errands'.

"What's at stake?" She asked not even paying attention to Taylor's presence.

"She won't tell Harry and Louis' location." Zayn supplied gritting his teeth. 

She rolled her eyes and turned to Taylor,"You do realize that we have more of a leverage than you." 

"Of course, I do." Taylor said grinning in a devious manner. 

Sienna pursed her lips into a thin line and then looked at her with a smirk coming into existence. "I'm not gonna do shit. You're gonna tell them anyway."

"And why do you think I'd do that?"

"But you got smarter, you got harder in the nick of time." 

This visibly dropped Taylor's smirk immediately while Sienna's chuckle resonated in the room. "Maybe I should anonymously tip about this to Katy and Kanye."

"We aren't giving you anything, now please proceed with telling us where near Halifax are they?" She asked clearly.

The room was spinning with the amount of fire between the two women who's vengeance rivalled one another. 

"How much do I have to pay you then?" Taylor asked.  
Niall and Zayn and Liam were positively confused with the exchange going on between them. 

"Give the address first." Sienna bargained. 

"You're willing to check with my other techies and solve the glitch?"

"Depends on the amount you're paying."

"What's your price?"

"Six hundred thousand dollars."

"Excuse me!?" Taylor asked with her jaw dropping but quickly masked her astonishment. 

"That's overpriced!"

"It's pocket change for you."

"It's a big amount."

"Still pocket change." Sienna said with the smirk still painted on her face."And I need the entire amount in a shot right before I even start the programming."

Taylor just blankly looked at her and rolled her eyes,"We'll discuss about this later."

"Fair enough." She replied. "Now tell me where are they?"

Taylor closed her eyes in devastation, she was well aware that this game was fixed and she will give Harry and Louis' location eventually. Even though she secretly wanted the two boys to return, she was bound in a promise to not reveal their location unless someone specifically asked her for it. And since then she waited for one direction to turn to her and ask her but she couldn't give it right away. So she started dropping subtle hints through the past few months.  
"Peggy's Cove in Nova Scotia, Canada." She revealed finally with so much of difficulty.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short. I know. But there's another chapter following this.
> 
> I so badly wanted to leave this here but I ain't cruel so please treat me with kindness and drop a comment with a kudos!

The journey to Canada was generously annoying and extremely tiring, Taylor had been kind to lend her private jet and chopper to travel to Peggy's Cove, as soon as possible but strangely the weather had been on a side which was definitely not theirs which was why they were required to make an emergency landing in Toronto. 

They waited in exhaustion on the airport for about two hours until the slim light of dawn passed into the place they had been halted. As soon as the sky began clearing up, the trio was back into the sheer white jet which awaited for them. 

The travel to Halifax were another two hours of torcher for the trio, adding the fact they hadn't slept a wink through the journey was bringing out more exhaustion in them. 

The three slowly moved from the jet into a helicopter which would be competitively faster as compared to the road and were once again shifted into a car and were then given pretty clear instructions for directions which they dutifully followed. 

Walking amongst the palm trees in the warm rusty sand, Zayn was positively dehydrated with his other two mates. The breeze seemed gentle and less warm when it blew from the sea across their faces giving the little relief they deserved, as they sauntered through the palm trees and slowly into the haven of the leaves. Noticing a classic beach cottage, they maneuvered themselves through the gate and moved up the porch. 

Seeing the name plate which said Harold and Lewis earned a smirk from Zayn, a 'thank god' from Liam and a exasperated sigh from Niall. Stepping forward, Zayn rang the bell to what he hoped would be his friends faces. 

****

Louis woke up to the familiar smell of his husband all over the room, it was ridiculous, really but he could never get tired of this smell. The sand. The breeze. Harry. 

He glanced at the watch to see it was half past nine on the One Direction clock which was placed on the adjacent baby blue wall. It was ritualistic for him, to wake up everyday, notice the time and state blankly at the poster which adorned the wall. It was their OTRA tour's poster. The tour before Zayn left.

If nostalgia didn't fill Louis when he looked at the posters everyday, he'd just be accused of lying. He remembered the band more often than he was supposed to. There were few days, he just felt like running back to them and there were few days where he felt that he never regretted his decision of leaving the tornado of fame and glory behind.

Shaking his head of these thoughts, he lazily drew himself from the bed and moved to the washroom to start a whole new day of their freedom. 

***

When Louis moved down to the kitchen from his bedroom, the aroma of pancakes lit his face with a small smile. 

He thought of slowly walking up on Harry and embracing him from behind since he'd gotten up earlier than his estimated time of rise and shine for a Sunday. But before he could even accomplish his task of surprising his husband, he skipped a stair and was on the floor assuring that all the photographs pinned to the wall fell on him, grasping the immediate attention of Harry Edward Styles.

"Lou!?" His frantic voice came into existence and then he stood behind him with one hand on his hip and the other hand holding a spatula with his head nodding sideways giving disapproval. 

"I've told you so many times to watch the stairs," he said giving the clumsy boy a motherly smile and pulled him up. Looking at him carefully,"You didn't hurt yourself, right?" He asked touching his cheek and looking for any signs of injury.

"Nope." Louis grunted and picked up the pictures, hanging them back. 

"Good." Harry said and walked back to the kitchen. 

"Haz!" Louis called out. 

"Hmmm?"

Louis took one big stride and hugged him,"Good Morning."

"Good Morning." He returned, kissing his forehead, Harry proceeded to the kitchen with Louis following him like a pup. 

Watching Harry cook was his most favourite things in the world. Most favourite. The way his curls were tied up neatly in a bun and perspiration all over his face with his sole concentration on the pan and flipping the pancake and all Louis did was smile in clear observation.

"Lou?" 

"Yea."

Harry turned to him after flipping the pancake,"I'm feeling weird Louis."

Louis frowned with his eyebrows furrowing,"What happened?"

"I don't know Lou," Harry sighed defeatedly,"It's like this feeling you get when you're on a roller coaster, the pit in the stomach kind."

"Haz." Louis reiterated again but was interrupted with his continuation. "It's like something big is happening. Something is gonna happen." He said with a worried expression. "I don't know Lou."

"Harry." Louis began and maneuvered his body in between his legs. "Whatever is gonna happen, good or bad, we're there for one another, all right?"

"No matter what happens, nobody can beat us when we're together." He asked cupping his cheeks. "I am your strength and you are my shield. And nobody can harm either one of us, not now at least."

Harry embraced him and kissed on top of his head,"Thank you." He said gratefully and then looked back into the void of thoughts,"But Louis,it ain't a bad thing. I don't even know if it's good or bad, I just know something's happening."

"Harry, don't worry." He reassured the boy before him and ran his hand on top of his head. "Whatever it is, We'll figure it out together."

To this Harry's anxiety considerably reduced and his heart beat softened a bit. He nodded and turned to cook their breakfast while Louis' eyes fixed back on Harry when an idea popped into his head. 

Jumping up from the kitchen platform, Louis headed to the living room. He opened the cabinet which was right below their walled television and grabbed the karaoke set.

He switched it on and selected the track he wanted to sing along and began playing it. Taking the mic, Louis stood up on the sofa, he directly jumped into the chorus.

"Waking up, beside you I’m my loaded gun," he began to sing with a huge smile plastered to his face. Harry turned to look at source and a smile lit his face immediately. "I can't contain this anymore, I'm all yours I've got no control, no control." 

Harry reduced the flame on the stove and walked to Louis with a gentle smile and stood there with a fond smile on his face, stepping down from the sofa and moved closer to Harry with his voice lowering down a little by little. 

Halting right before him, he continued calmly with love and adoration his words came up instantly. "Powerless and I don't care it's obvious, I just can't get enough of you. The pedal's down, my eyes are closed, No control." He paused and looked right into Harry's lovely green eyes and placed his arms on shoulder. 

"What did I do to deserve you?" Harry asked and pulled him closer to his body. While Louis' nose nuzzled against Harry's very own. "You peed on me." He said with a chuckle, earning a similar response from his husband.

"I'm glad I did, baby." Harry agreed and placed his lips on top of Louis'. With his tongue slowly sliding in between Louis' lips, Harry made sure that this was a slow and lethargic kiss filled with sensuality. His tongue massaged Louis' tongue while their lips rubbed against one another causing more heat and tension between the participants. Louis' tongue, carefully began to respond to Harry's gentle massage having his hand gently removing the rubber band which held his hair. As soon as his beautiful locks cascaded down to his shoulder, Louis' hand caressed it carefully while his attention had been concentrated into the kiss they were sharing. 

Slowly unlocking their lips for air, Harry looked back into those electric blue orbs which had kept him prisoner since he ever looked into them.

"Come on, I have to make a few more pancakes and you are a perennial baby bird." Harry said to him kissing his neck.

"So you don't wanna fuck me?" Louis asked skeptically with a brow risen. Harry put his hands on his hip,"No Louis William Tomlinson, this is not gonna happen."

"Are you sure?!" Louis asked with a pout.

He turned his body away and proceeded to the kitchen counter while Louis continued to pout and sat on the kitchen platform.

"Where are the muffins which you got yesterday?" Louis questioned but before Harry could answer, the doorbell rang grabbing both their attention.

"I'll see to it." Louis said to him and walked out of the kitchen through the strings of seashells hanging at the junction of the living room and the kitchen.

He saw through the key hole first and remembered that he was the one to put tape on it because he thought it was funny.

Louis shook his head and unlocked the locks on this one door and touched the cold golden handle to pull it open. And that was when Louis figured out that maybe this was what Harry's instinct was telling. Before him stood the three boys who've grown into a set of perfectly well established men in the music industry. Those three men who Louis had shared his entire life with were standing right before him. Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik stood on his doorstep looking unmistakably disheveled and equally exhausted.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Louis did not know how to react to this. He was blank and his expression, stoic. They looked different, Niall looked so much more healthier while Liam and Zayn had that natural glow in them, the one which comes either from well deserved success or love. And he was sure it was the latter. 

Very sure. 

"Don't you have any manners Tomlinson?" Liam scolded with a nervous laugh. "Invite us in." 

Louis snapped out of his trance and let them into their home. 

Locking the door shut, his mind was still puzzled onto what reaction to give the three men who had scattered themselves on the couch with their blazers sprawled on the sofa, having their shirt sleeves rolled up to their elbows, their hair completely disheveled and a lot of exhaustion present on their face with the surprisingly natural glow.

"Louis?" Harry's voice made it's way through the kitchen to their living room. "Who's at the door? And why can I smell that ridiculous cologne which Niall uses? It's making the air toxic!" He joked with a chuckle accompanying his comment.

Louis noticed Niall's smile growing wider when Harry said that. Niall stood up on his feet and walked towards the kitchen as slowly as he could, while Zayn and Liam followed his footsteps. 

When they entered the kitchen, he noticed Harry's back facing them. 

"Harry, we need more pancakes." Zayn's voice said serving himself one of the pancakes which were parked beside the stove in a stack. 

Harry turned at the familiar voice and as soon as his eyes laid on them, his jaw dropped and eyes widened simultaneously. Zayn, Niall and Liam stood before him, real humans who are his best friends right before him. 

"Lou?" He beckoned and looked at his husband, "You can see them too, right?"

This summoned a round of laughter in the kitchen, the same laughter which was a common sight since the X Factor amongst the three of them, the only feeling which made both HarryandLouis feel at a place they truly belonged,"How did you find us?" Harry asked clearly impressed with them.

"Long story." Liam shrugged. "Some other time." He said and pulled him into an embrace which Harry returned and very quick the others joined in. 

"Yea," Niall agreed with a nod,"make some breakfast right now. We're starving."

"Right up." Harry said with his grin not ready to leave his lips.

***

The breakfast was the most fulfilling event which had occured in Liam's life in the past few years. It felt heart warming and it felt like home. HarryandLouis' presence brought in the heart of their bonded friendship which had been missing since such a long time. 

It was utter bliss. Just like this moment had been only for the five of them. It was theirs. Just theirs. 

The banter between the five of them came as naturally as breathing, nothing had changed. Nothing. It was absolutely the same thing. 

While Liam was smiling like a dork, the four of them concentrated on the blonde, "Liam?" Louis said making sure Liam retraced his thoughts and was brought back into reality. 

"I'm just happy." Liam declared with his smile not leaving his lips. To which the four of them just nodded in admission.

 

****

"Come on, let's show you our house!" Louis declared immediately after the breakfast table was cleared. 

"Why not?" Niall said jumping up and willingly letting Louis guide the way but Zayn and Liam stayed put in their place. 

"Can I have a bath first?" Zayn asked the two of them. 

"Why not?" Harry approved and directed him up the extremely steep spiral staircase right beside the kitchen.

"And Haz, I'm borrowing your clothes." He added and walked up the staircase but retraced again. 

"Anything else?" Louis asked looking up to his bandmate. 

"Liam." Zayn pointed towards him. 

All Harry could do was smirk at Zayn while Louis stared at Liam making sure, he was beet red,"Go on Li, your lover boy is calling for you." Louis chuckled and turned back to gossiping with his friend.

Niall carefully looked around the gently painted blue walls, it matched Louis' eyes perfectly. He noticed the cabinet right below the telly had so many framed pictures. From the X Factor to the very last concert they had together before Zayn left due to manipulating behaviour of Griffiths and Magee.

A couch right opposite to the telly and two bean bags beside them. Behind the silver couch was a glass showcase with three solid shelves, the uppermost had every album they sold as a band and the one's they sold after the break up. Below it were more pictures and below that were according to what Niall estimated, photo albums. Beside the wooden showcase was another cabinet which had a classic stereo. 

It was a beautiful house undoubtedly and HarryandLouis had done an efficient job in creating this home out of a house.

While Louis continued to banter non stop about everything basically, Harry was making a few phone calls to whom, he had no clue about. 

Louis showed him literally everything, in and around the house. Up the beautiful staircase which was too steep for his own good,"How on earth does Harry climb this with his height like that!?" To which Louis just laughed in response and asked him to follow upstairs. 

The second floor had three bedrooms, one which was locked and the other two had their doors ajar. Niall walked into the first bedroom to see a barely covered Zayn pinned to the bed by Liam who had loosely wrapped towel around his waist with water glistening on their skins. 

"Shut the door Neil and get out!" Zayn commanded with his eyes fixed on Liam. Niall hurriedly closed the door but Louis came just in time to stop him,"What's going-"

"-oh!" Louis acknowledged. 

"Get out!" Liam ordered this time. Smirking, Louis closed the door and then commented,"There is lube and condoms in the drawer in the bedside table!"

"Shut up!" Zayn screamed back. 

Louis giggled along with Niall in response and traced away from the bedroom. 

*** 

It had been four and a half days since Liam, Zayn and Niall had turned up on their doorstep uninvited. The past three days had been so utterly blissful in accordance to Harry's opinion. They had reconnected, showed them around the entire place which had been home to them since the past four years. 

They had been to the light house, they went kayaking in which Zayn had fallen straight into the water after accusing Louis of pushing him in on purpose, to which Louis just laughed in response.

They showed them the tiny cafe they owned and where Harry usually spent most of his time baking. 

Liam had realized one thing that is, in this tiny piece of a village, two of his best friends had built themselves an escape, a sort of box which shielded them from the brutality of the world where they genuinely belonged.

Shaking his head,Liam rubbed his eyes off the sleep they didn't receive because they wanted to see the sunrise at the beach which they did, sitting by the lighthouse. 

They moved around the village a little, went fishing in the wee hours with Harry's friend on his boat and then came back and were playing beach football while Harry and Liam were preparing breakfast in quaint silence which was eventually broken by Liam.

"Harry," he began, halting the dicing of the bell peppers. 

"Yea?"

"Are you and Louis planning to return back?" 

And it was said, the million dollar worth question was asked. 

"Yes, we are." A familiar voice answered, they noticed that the three men had returned. Placing the football behind the door, Louis sat down on the bean bag and sighed in exasperation while Zayn walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water for himself with Niall following him for the same

"Louis, I'm not talking about Gemma's wedding." Liam verified, he took a deep breath,"I'm talking about your careers. Your return to the music industry."

The quietness of the house suddenly made it unfamiliar, wind blew past the sea shelled strings which made them clash with one another with a tinkling sound. 

Everyone just halted at Liam's clear question and stirred themselves towards Louis. 

"We aren't leaving without you guys." Zayn cleared off.

"True that." Niall added. 

Louis had an immediate reaction of looking at Harry for consolation who announced that breakfast was ready to divert the course of the questionnaire. 

The breakfast table was neatly decorated with waffles and French toasts accompanied with orange juice and muffins. 

As they seated themselves around the table the banter went on without Louis' active participation. He seemed to be lost in thoughts and Harry had to literally clap before him to get his attention. 

And then absolutely out of nowhere, he requested to talk to Harry. Alone. That was why the two of them were in their bedroom.

"Can we cuddle?" Louis requested and climbed on top of the bed. Raising an eyebrow he moved beside Louis and wrapped him in his arms, the familiar smell of Harry soothed him greatly. 

The way his finger would rub against his very own and would then trail to his neck, making different patterns on his skin with the tips of his fingers. Muttering beautiful and heartwarming sentences which made Louis think time and again, what did he do to deserve this boy, he was so intensely attached to.

"Love, What's going on?"

"Do you want to go back?" Louis questioned maneuvering himself closer to Harry's chest. His hands intertwined in his, Harry patted Louis' head. 

"It's not about me, love, it's about you. It always has been." Harry replied lovingly. "If you say let's go back, we will."

"No, Haz." Louis censured and looked into his eyes. "It's your choice as much as mine."

"Louis." He began with a sigh. "As much as I hate to admit, we belong there. Amongst the madness, scheming and the music, that's where we should be."

"But I'm willingly to leave all of that just so you're comfortable." Harry put forth with seriousness laced in his voice.

Louis remained quiet fire awhile after this stomach churning conversation and then said," I want to go back too."

"But?" Harry prompted. 

"I'm afraid of going through the same thing with managements. I can't bear that exhaustion again." Louis explained with a little fear in his undertone.   
"What if we are targeted like the last time? What if they try separating us? What if you and-"

Louis was cut off with his husband's lips who withdrew immediately after silencing him. "Louis, listen to me, okay?" Harry said with seriousness, "This time, I'm going to protect you no matter what. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you, all right?"

Louis nodded his head and said,"We won't have to go through the closet again, right?."

"Not on my watch, No."

"And I won't have to go through that entire thing again? Right?" He asked hesitantly and then added,"The depre-"

"God! No Louis!" He said cupping his cheeks,"No! Never!" He denied frantically and kissed his forehead and then his cheeks in reassurance.

"Haz," he asked looking at his pretty green eyes,"you and me against the world?"

"Me and you against the world." He affirmed and sealed the statement with a kiss having the breeze and the blue sky to witness the oath.

***

Awhile later Zayn, Liam and Niall walked up to their friends' room. It had been over an hour since they had excused themselves and left the three downstairs to their own devices who were fidgeting with the things around the living room, they saw the pictures in the albums alongside music CDs. 

After discarding all these thoughts and rush of feelings, they finally found themselves in Harry and Louis' bedroom which brought back another memory in their head. 

It had been on that very Sunday which had passed away decently due to canoeing. When the time finally arrived to sleep, Louis and Harry had cleared the guest room and given it to their friends.

When the night did pass, slowly and comfortably, Niall had dragged himself and his blanket to HarryandLouis' room and joined them and then joined by Zayn and Liam. The five of them squeezed into one bed, holding on to one another, cuddling, like nothing could ever tear them apart. And it had been the most happiest the five had been in the four years passed.

Shaking his head from the thought processes, they entered the room and saw Harry and Louis removing their clothes off the wardrobes and keeping them in the suitcase which was kept on the bed. 

"You're coming home?" Niall asked. 

"Yes, Neil," Louis said pompously,"Harold and I have decided to be generous and grace the world with our presences."

The three men just pounced LouisandHarry with a hug, as soon as Louis declared it. And Louis felt it again, the familiar touches of the spark of friendship which surrounded them when the five of them were together in one another's presence. Home.

Helping Louis and Harry pack up, the boys were doing a generously efficient job to pack the absolutely necessary things for moving back to their lives. By the time they moved down for lunch and seated on the dinner table it was already noon. Since Louis was still in their bedroom, they waited until he joined them which he did but along with a mint green box which had Tiffany and Co written neatly over it.

He seated himself beside Niall and handed him the box,"Nialler, I got your coat and these fell from it." 

Looking at the box in his hand and the phone, Niall's face grew pale, as if someone had told him that he got a tattoo while he was drunk. 

"Fuck." He breathed and turned to Zayn and asked the two who were engrossed in their food,"Guys, where are our phones?"

Zayn looked up at his friend and then at Liam confusedly,"We left them in the room on Sunday because they were dead." Liam answered remembering them.

"And did you charge them after we arrived here?" Niall asked them.

"I forgot about my phone," Zayn said honestly. 

"Same." Liam agreed.

"Unfortunately, so did I. I had switched it off." Niall added on to their statements.

"Niall," Harry began, not understanding where exactly he was coming from,"what happened?"

"Sixty one missed calls from Sienna." He said with a gulp. To this not only Zayn but Liam also grew pale white.

"She's gonna kill us!" Zayn said dramatically. 

Harry and Louis looked possibly confused by the reactions. "Who's Sienna?" Louis asked taking a bite from his turkey sandwich. 

"My girlfriend." Niall answered. 

"Who helped us find you guys." Liam supplied.

"And she's gonna kill us." Zayn declared.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

"Brace yourselves!" Zayn announced, as soon as Sienna received the call.

"I heard that Malik!" She shouted through the call. "Is the phone on the speaker mode?" 

"Yea," Niall squeaked, clearly terrified while Harry and Louis looked at the three in amusement. 

"Where the bloody hell are you three!? What do you three think of yourselves?! No calls!? No texts!?" And Zayn with his hands were shielding his ears with his friend doing the same was sure that people of the neighbouring planets could hear her voice.

"The minute you return, I am offering you to Satan as a sacrifice! The level of irresponsibility!" She continued to scold the three of them. "And Liam aren't you the most responsible of them all!" Louis was controlling his laughter with his lips pursed while Harry was having the best time of his life watching his friends being yelled at by a phone. 

"Do you have any idea how much of a big media circus is going on here?!" She asked with anger resonating through the phone. 

"Sienna," Niall started with the hope of calming her down. 

"DON'T YOU DARE SIENNA ME, NIALL HORAN!" The boys chuckled in response to her reply but before he could attempt again, the line went silent.

"Sienna?" He asked worriedly,"Are you there?"

The phone rang again after a time span of ten minutes which was filled with laughter and food.

Sliding on the screen, Niall accepted the call and put the phone on speaker mode. 

"You guys should be grateful that I am not in the condition to scream." She chastised.

"Not in the condition to scream!?" Zayn questioned incredulously,"I guess I need hearing aid because of your voice!"

"Shut up Malik." She snapped with irate.

Niall then brought the phone closer to him,"Why aren't you well though, what happened?" 

"Hangover and I've thrown up twice accompanied with a headache."

"Clubbing?" Liam guessed. 

"Well, wouldn't you like to know?!" She questioned sarcastically,"if in case you guys have forgotten, let me remind you, Gemma's wedding is in less than forty eight hours. So it was her bachelorette party yesterday."

Yesterday?" Zayn asked.

"Where are you guys?" Niall asked immediately after Zayn.

"We are in Vegas." She replied, "and it wasn't a pretty sight. She cried through the evening before the party began."

"Why?"

"Harry. That's why, she just wanted to him to come back." Sienna said with a huffed sigh. "It was so upsetting, the fact that I knew the location and didn't just tell her or Anne was heartbreaking. I'm feeling so guilty." She confessed and then ended it with," It was bad." 

"And then she was okay after sometime and the party happened anyway." She informed them with a sigh. "And by the way, she knows I know something about HarryandLouis and it's difficult to lie to her especially after the tiara incident."

There was a deafening silence across the table which was broken only by sighs.

"Anything else?" Liam verified. 

"Yes." She answered immediately," Waliyah and Trisha called me."

"What!?" Zayn exclaimed. 

"And so did Greg and Nicola." She mentioned the siblings of her boyfriend and boyfriend's best friend.

"What the hell?" The three of the chorused.

"You guys do realize that you're celebrities or have you forgotten about it?" She asked sarcastically. "You guys have literally disappeared out of nowhere without informing your families with no method to contact you whatsoever and then were smart enough to hang out in Toronto's airport where some chick too pictures and uploaded."

To this Zayn face palmed and Liam pursed his lips with Niall closing his eyes in irate."What did you say?" Niall asked.

"I said I didn't know. I literally had to block your managers' numbers!" Louis and Harry rose their eyebrows to this.

"Sorry for the trouble Sienna," Liam apologized immediately, Niall and Zayn muttered the same.

"Just be there for Gemma's wedding with HarryandLouis, okay? That's all what's the priority right now."

"Yea." The room answered.

"And!" She exclaimed. "There are gonna be paparazzi in her wedding because she is assured that HarryandLouis won't turn up so she wants them to see it from wherever they are hiding."

To this Harry face palmed and shook his head in dissatisfaction.

"Now you can switch off the speaker, Niall." She directed.

"Yea?" Niall asked his girlfriend. 

"Is it off?"

"Yea."

"There's something you need to know before the papers tell you." She said to him with a serious undertone. 

"Sienna is everything all right?" He asked with his eyebrows furrowing and as the conversation continued, Niall's frown deepened and worsened. His expressions grew stoic with his lips pursed together.  
After the call was disconnected, the four of them had darted questioning looks towards him. 

"Sienna and her friends had gone clubbing the day we left and it seems there were these two men who were behaving inappropriately with her friend." They nodded their heads and gestured Niall to continue which he did. "One of them crossed the line and forced himself on her friend and Sienna punched him and kind of beat him up."

"What's bad in that!? I'm proud of her!" Zayn said like a proud father.

"Because the bad part didn't start yet." Harry replied and asked Niall to go on.

"Turns out he was Griffiths' son and the other guy was the owner of the club."

Now came the massive jaw drop,"And then?"

"It seems his son and Eleanor are dating and she recognized Sienna as my girlfriend and they called the fucking police."

"What!?" Liam said widening his eyes in shock.

"She got arrested and ended up late for the her dance rehearsal which got her fired." Niall elucidated to all of them."And that's not all, The Sun is writing everything they could which is pure bullshit about her."

Another wave of disappointment and silence swept through the table which persisted for an annoyingly elaborate period of time.

"Niall." Harry broke the silence. "This is our life. And it will be hers too in some time. The only thing you can do is be there when she breaks."

Niall just sighed and got up from his seat,"I'm sleepy." He announced and took the stairs which led him to the second floor.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, thank god for Google maps. 
> 
> Secondly, thank god for Google maps.
> 
> Lastly, thank god for Google maps.

Sienna rushed in and out of the rooms which had been booked in the lovely plains of Cheshire. It had been a bloody hassle since the early sun even opened it's eyes on the lovely venue which was hosting Gemma's wedding. 

The wedding had been planned in for the morning right before noon. And that was why the entire hotel was emitting chaos. Gemma had thrown three tantrums since the morning. One of them involved Harry and Robin's absence and the other just because she felt like it. Like she was the bride to be, she could do it. 

Pacing around the room impatiently in her white bathrobe with her hair beautifully woven into an elegant bun adorned with a lovely white and sea blue stoned floral clip as the perfect accessory to be adorned with her blonde hair which had been streaked with black flames here and there for this particular occasion. She was worried, terribly. The official wedding ceremony was in less an hour and not a single member of One Direction had turned up and the fact that none of them were taking calls, agitated her further. They had clearly confirmed that the five of them will be there and had asked her to arrange for a few things in the lobby which she diligently did. They had wanted an area in the lobby to be covered with white curtains on four sides with mics and speakers connected. They orders had been specific and she had done exactly that but there was still no sign of any of them. 

Deciding to cast these thoughts away with a lot of difficulty, Sienna walked over to her wardrobe where her outfit for the wedding resided. 

Putting the coloured cloth on her skin, she was completely dressed. Perfectly ready for a wedding.   
Sighing she walked out to Gemma's room to collide with Lottie who was moving to the same place she was. 

Complimenting each other, they noticed that her make-up was being done by the artist who had been hired. She was already in her stunning spotless white sweetheart necklined gown. The laced sleeves had whirl of tiny rhinestones up her sleeve and back which sparkled when the sunlight caressed them with its fingers. The dress fit onto Gemma so very naturally that it made her look like royalty. Her lovely coloured hair had been modified into prominent curls with the tiara sitting right on top. 

Smiling at her, Sienna engaged her in a small conversation about wedding anxiety while the bridesmaids who were in the palest of pink around her laughed and simultaneously teased her.

While the ease of conversation continued, Sienna's phone began to ring with Niall painted on her screen, exiting the room as subtly as possible,"Where are you!?" She hissed. 

"We're stuck in traffic since an hour and now there's been an accident so it's getting late." He responded immediately. 

"What the hell!?" She exclaimed face palming. "Where are you guys exactly?" 

"On the highway?" Zayn answered with obviousness. 

"Well, I clearly did not figure that out Malik, thank you for educating me about such a vital observation," she said sarcastically to which a chuckle escaped from the four of them. "Give the phone to the driver."

"Which route are you guys coming from?" She asked as soon as the voice changed while checking the maps on her phone.

"M6, ma'am."

"Did you pass Kings Ln?"

"We just did."

"Stay there." She said hurrying down the staircase. "I'll come to pick you guys up through Northwich. Don't get out of the car."

With that she disconnected the call and turned to see Lottie standing right behind her.

Sienna felt her heart drop,"What's going on?" Lottie questioned her with questioning look. "Sienna I know you know something. What's happening?"

She gulped,"You'll know but right now I'm in a rush," she conceded,"but I could borrow your car right now."

"I'm not giving you anything until you tell me what's going on!" Lottie said taking her to the side due to the camera flashes. "My brother and his friends have disappeared, my closest friend is getting married without anyone walking her down the aisle and I'm bloody frustrated!"

Sienna pursed her lips and revealed,"They're on their way."

"Who?"

"Zayn, Niall, Liam," she began and completed with a sigh,"and HarryandLouis."

Lottie had shock spread over her face with widened eyes until it got replaced by a smile but was cut off,"They are stuck in traffic and the wedding is gonna start in less than forty minutes!"

Lottie immediately went into her room and got her Ferrari keys while Sienna quickly got her Bluetooth and fit it in her ear. 

Avoiding the flashes of the very few cameras in the vicinity, Sienna walked out to get into the car while instructing Lottie to delay the wedding as much as possible. 

***

Louis and the rest of the lads quickly gushed into the car which was waiting for them. Sitting into the car he noticed a girl in a sea blue gown. And was in an active conversation with someone on the Bluetooth. 

"I'll drive," Zayn said interrupting her. 

"Lottie hold on," the girl who was driving said and turned to Zayn,"We gotta reach there today, just in case you've forgotten," she verified with him mockingly which drew a smirk on Harry's face as he turned to Louis.She asked him to move back. 

Zayn pouted and joined them in the backseat, complaining how unfair the girl now identified as Sienna is.

"One of us can't fit in! Why didn't you bring an SUV?" Niall noted.

"Louis could sit on my lap." Harry suggested enthusiastically.

"Or we could kick Malik out!" Sienna suggested alternatively. Louis chuckled while Liam and Zayn just glared at her. 

"Come on fit in, I didn't get to choose the car," she justified,"and we need speed, right now." 

With that they squeezed into the back seat of the sports car. Harry slowly adjusted himself to accommodate his husband. 

Sienna turned to check on them and a smile lit her face up,"This is such a Larry moment!" She squealed clapping her hands,"I would've blogged this but priorities." She smiled apologetically and started the car.

"We'll be there in ten minutes, Lottie." She said while driving,"And please delay Gemma a little. Why don't you speak to her privately too?" 

"All right. Do that and please inform me of the status." She requested, as soon as she disconnected,Zayn remarked,"You're pretty slow too. In driving."

Louis noticed her rolling her eyes,"That's because I haven't started driving yet." She said and accelerated the car faster. "Hold on." She announced.

And the speed of the car increased so visibly that Louis was literally squeezing Harry's hand. 

"We're on the wrong side of the road!" Liam said frantically and then screamed. "Sienna! There's a truck coming this way!"

"I'm not blind Liam!"

Harshly she changed the course of the car towards the left side while the truck was just a few seconds away. Closely escaping the truck, she moved back into the the opposide side of the road.

"We're gonna get killed!" Zayn announced dramatically causing Sienna to bark out a giggle. "You said I couldn't drive."

"You can't!" Liam exclaimed siding with his boyfriend.

"I can drive! It's just a little rash!" She exclaimed while throwing the car to the two sides of the hardly patrolled road. 

"CLEARLY!" All of them agreed together making her laugh again. 

"Hold on!" She directed and took an extremely steep turn which caused all of them to lean towards the right.  
That was when her phone began to ring, pressing the button on the Bluetooth, she noticed that it wasn't working. "What the hell!" She cursed and asked Niall to accept the call, placing it on the speaker mode.

"Yea, Lottie?" She asked. As soon as Louis heard the other side come alive, his gut churned. It had been four years since he'd heard that voice, his younger sister.   
Harry squeezed his hand in reassurance and gave him a gentle smile.

"I think we'll be leaving in the next ten minutes." She elucidated clearly and continued,"And Sienna there's a bit of a problem here."

"What happened?"

"There's a crowd, right before the hotel."

"Who does it consist of?"

"Paparazzi, even though an extremely small amount of them are in the venue because Gemma allowed them to be there for obvious reasons." She said to her.

"Is it only paparazzi?"

"No!" Gemma exclaimed clearly annoyed. "Fans! They think HarryandLouis will turn up for the wedding no matter what."

"I like our accuracy," Sienna appreciated but then asked,"how much of the road is blocked?"

"More like how much of it isn't blocked!" She said with a concoction of agitation and sarcasm in her voice.

"That much?"

"Yea."

"Isn't there another entry?"

"Unfortunately, no."

Sienna was lost in thought with her eyes fixed on the road, they were nearing to the venue very fast but she slowed down.

"Gemma wants to leave right now it seems!" Charlotte gasped. 

"Is she still in the room?" Sienna question, running her mind quickly. 

"Yea, They're hugging each other." Lottie replied.

"Get me Felićité on the phone." She directed Lottie who's voice brought in more nausea into Louis. 

"Sienna this better be important, I was sneaking off with my boyfriend!" She confessed which rose Louis' eyebrows animatedly,'His little sister and a boyfriend!?' He thought freaking out.

"Fiz I want a favour from you right now, quickly."

"What's in it for me?"

"Well I'm bringing in a surprise for you and the entire family and that surprise is awesome!" She tried convincingly.

"I am not five." Felicite snorted. 

"You'll love it."

"Black Market. Take me there." Fizzy negotiated to this response Louis' eyebrows furrowed, she was in deep trouble as soon as he'd meet her.

"I'll take you, provided you don't like the surprise I'm bringing!" Sienna negotiated back.

"Done. I'm sure I won't like the surpise you're bringing." Fizzy declared while a huge grin painted Sienna's face.   
"Okay, can you act like you've sprained your leg, can you make a huge fuss there?" 

"Right now?"

"Yes, it shouldn't let Gemma leave her room for another ten minutes. "

"Cool! That's damn easy!" Fizzy agreed enthusiastically and gave the phone back to Charlotte and a loud, "Oh my god! Ouch!" Was heard in the background. 

"Now what to do about the crowd?" She asked to the people present in the car.

"I guess, we should just go, they'll eventually give way?" Louis asked.

Sienna turned to her idol,"How many times has that worked while you guys were in a band?"

The silence which persisted answered enough.   
They waited for the an alternative, reasonable answer but none turned up.

"Sienna," Niall began,"Security? Can't they help us?"

"With a crowd like that?" She asked shaking her head and then turned to Niall,"You're so smart!" She cried out and then looked at Harry,"I'm going to tell you something," she said nodding her head at Harry who was listening keenly,"Call Taylor Swift and tell her this."

***

One thing Louis had to admit was that this girl was smart. Since Taylor always had an XUV before her, filled with guards and usually if there was a crowd they'd step out and clear it just enough for her vehicle to pass and if they'd carefully position themselves in between Taylor's security with one XUV before them with Taylor's car behind it and another XUV behind that then it would not be that difficult to pass and that plan was working like magic. Since Liam and Zayn had volunteered to join in with Taylor and Ed, they were comfortably seated in the car which was slowly pacing in the sea of people. 

As soon as the car halted in the safe haven of the hotel,the gates immediately clasped shut. Getting out of their respective cars, they rushed into the lobby which was first being checked by Sienna for any sort of disturbance which was prominently present in the form of photographers and videographers and Gemma leaving her room on the first floor. 

"I'll stop Gemma for a while, get into that. Everything you asked for is present there." She directed the five of them to the cube which was arranged as per their instructions.

That was when Louis noticed his husband caught her wrist which caused Sienna to look at him questioningly. "Anything else?" She asked him. He pulled her into an embrace. "Thank you, so much for doing this and the so many things we have no clue you did." He told her meaningfully. Louis took his place beside him and added,"We're grateful, very grateful." He said honestly and hugged her too. 

When Louis moved away, the other three band members were going to embrace her too,"Aye!" She said turning away. "You'll make me cry!" But the three hugged her anyway and HarryandLouis joined the two of them into a huge group hug.

"Ugh! I'm suffocated!" Sienna whined falsely and let out a laugh,"Come on, let's hope Gemma hasn't arrived to the lobby yet."

***

"And if it's true, it's you, it's you, they add up to," they sang together in a symphony,"and all your little things." Harry completed with a smile and turned up to the crowd before them with his sister who was looking at him with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. 

She looked stunning in that princess ball gown. Exhilarating even. Harry sighed and strolled towards the bride. 

"I'm sorry that I am so late." He said gently to his elder sister with love and longing in his eyes.   
Gemma just stared at him with a faint smile and threw her arms around her brother and promised to not let go. 

By this moment, everyone were in tear of joy and sadness, a concoction of mixed emotions.

It was a reunion, a lovely one at that. The tears. The scoldings and even a few blown punches from Lottie who was also in a puddle of tears with the rest of her family. 

It was a reunion.  
It was love.  
It was satisfaction.   
It was life and it was death and it was everything in between the two which made life worth living.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was really in a dilemma whether to continue this. Or stop it here but I guess I've decided to continue it since there would be a few plot holes otherwise.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Seated in Jeffrey Azoff's office, Louis stared at the men seated before them. They had been callously tucked into lush sofas while Jeffrey Azoff and his father were seated on the couch right opposite to them. 

The atmosphere of CAA was surprisingly calming, it was just so casual that Louis felt nauseated by the familiarity of it. The two of them had been the earliest to arrive, closely followed by Zayn and Liam while they awaited Niall's arrival. He had mentioned, he had to meet his lawyer regarding a few things.

Louis was genuinely intrigued by Niall's girlfriend, she was damn easy to hang along with, she just vibed with him. Leaving the obvious fact aside that the girl was god damn smart, she was nice, he supposed. 

Adding to the fact that Taylor Swift herself had given her a compliment was a huge statement all by itself. It had been during the wedding reception when they got to talk to Taylor who said that she has the eye of a hawk when it comes to manipulation so they took her word and asked her opinion on the subject of how to proceed next, to which Sienna emailed them a list of top managements and suggested record labels and they had taken it.

Liam's contract had ended a month back and Zayn's a few weeks back with both their record labels and managements and as far as Niall was concerned, he bought himself out of his contracts, so that was that.

When all of them did meet up in LA in Niall's apartment, Sienna was in Massachusetts.She had explained their launch back into the industry via a video call. She had been there for quite some time. She had left four days after the wedding due to some emergency back at home. The way she spoke so perfectly statistically, Louis was genuinely surprised that she didn't run a management of her own. 

The plan was laid out and that's why when Niall arrived a moment later, the meeting commenced. They were going through the basics of the contract which revolved PR stunts, image and reputation and the usual stuff until Harry intervened in between.

"I have an extra demand though," he stated clearly, as he ran his fingers through his locks. Everyone's eyes were pointing at Harry.

"Sure, go ahead!" Jeff encouraged. 

"No one on one meeting will take place with Louis in my absence." Harry declared with his green eyes being stoic with seriousness. "Nobody manipulates him, nothing will be privately discussed with him when I'm not present. Absolutely nothing."

Jeff looked at his father who shook his head and turned towards the curly haired popstar,"Harry," he said with a fatherly smile,"you need to realize that we aren't Modest! we work 'with' our clients, not against them." He assured him. "So that is something you don't have to worry about at all."

Harry sighed, still a little unconvinced but instinctively nodded his head in affirmation.

"Anything else?" Jeff questioned looking at the five of them and that was when Zayn spoke up to his manager,"Jeff, we wanted to release music." He said ambiguously.

Jeff tilted his head,"Yea, you will be doing it."

"You aren't getting it," Liam said shaking his head and Louis completed it for him,"We want to drop two songs this Friday."

* * *

Irving and Jeff looked as if that someone had just asked their kidneys for a satanic ritual. "How do you plan on doing that?" Jeff questioned. "And as far as I remember, Harry and Louis have to still get out of the contracts they'd signed."

"We're already out of them." Harry informed. "We aren't tied to Syco or Modest! for that matter."

"We have everything ready," Niall informed them,"we're heading for recording right now after this meeting."  
"But we have a problem with the video making," Liam put forward,"we don't know how to get two videos ready in less than four days."

"You could make lyric videos instead of actual ones." Jeff suggested immediately.

Shaking his head, Louis spoke,"But they wouldn't have the same impact, as compared to the actual video."

"Agreed." Irving conceded.

"This friday is way too early, we know that," Zayn switching his gaze back and forth amongst his managers,"but we really need to give a statement. Our fans have relentlessly supported us, we need to do something."

"If we drop songs without any prior knowledge, it'll blow up the sales. Element of surprise." Louis told the men seated.

Louis noticed Jeff turning to his father and gazed back at them,"It's a brilliant idea!"

"We could add up more to this." Irving told the boys before him. The five of them shook their heads enthusiastically. "Get your lawyers, as soon as possible, go through the contracts sign them and we'll discuss the videography as soon as possible."

"Could we discuss it today over dinner?" Zayn asked everyone in the room,"Our recording might be over by then."

"Fair enough." Jeff assented. "Text me where and when to meet."

"All right," Harry said raising from his seat,"Let's leave. Busy day ahead."

Moving from their positions they moved out of the room when Irving called out,"Niall!"

Niall retraced his steps and looked at him,"Yeah?"

"Give my regards to your girlfriend."

That comment etched a smile on the face of the entire one direction.

As they continued moving out of the building which was flocked with a small crowd, Fans. Louis genuinely had no idea how exactly did they find their location? All the bloody time! And there were a few camera flashes too, though the crowd was being extremely well managed by the Azoff guards. They had enough space to move through it from where Louis could see it.

As they waited for their car, Louis caught up with Harry and slowly slid his fingers into his gaps which made Harry turn his attention to him, ignoring the questions of the paparazzi through the guards who were at least two feet away from the five of them, "Lou?"

"Thank you," he breathed gently. 

"For?" 

"For the one on one meeting thing."

Harry's expression softened and looked at his husband lovingly,"Louis, I breath for you and if anything at all happens to you, I'd die." He said tracing his cheek with his finger. "Nothing in the world matters to me as much as you do. Nothing."

Louis had his eyes locked into Harry's and a thousand memories flashed before him and everything whispered one thing,'This man makes my life worth living.' With this thought in his mind, he slowly maneuvered his husband and before Harry could even remind him of their surroundings, Louis pressed his lips on his husband's and with that all the noise in background went mute. Kissing Harry was always different, it was always a new experience. Every kiss felt different from the previous one and this one was associated with only love, just pure, unadulterated love. The love which overwhelmed him time and again. The love which was as reassuring as faith itself. The love which had gently touched them like the way drops of rain do, slowly drenching until you have no choice but to embrace their touch and that's what it felt like. 

Reluctantly pulling away from one another, Louis and Harry's eyes were still fixed on one another,"I loved you yesterday," Louis began, "I love you still," Harry continued.

"I always have and I always will." They completed together 

"Oi!" Zayn called out, grasping their attention,"Come on you saps, we have work to be done!"

They chuckled and nodded their heads, Harry kissed Louis forehead,"Let's go," he said with a smile and took his lover's hand, walking away from the peering cameras.

* * *

"Larry kiss is trending everywhere!" Niall announced swiping through his iPhone while taking a bite of the noodles they had ordered for after signing the legal documents with the Azoffs and RCA. Zayn's eyes looked at Niall gave him a chuckle at the his announcement and took a sip of his coffee, then turned to HarryandLouis,"What were you guys thinking?"

Turning to one another, Harry swallowed the noodles,"It was a moment."

"Accurate, Haz. Accurate." Liam complimented sarcastically and then mocked him,"It was a moment."

"What else is he supposed to say?!" Louis defended while Niall's phone began to ring. 

"What was the moment-"

"-Sienna!" Niall exclaimed which brought everyone's attention in the room to Niall's screen.

"Hey!" She smiled looking at Niall,"What's up?"

"Recording. We just took a break." Niall informed her. 

"How's the recording going on?" She questioned.

"Good, we have very little remaining." He told her with a smile. 

"How was the meeting with the Azoffs?"

"T'was good." 

"Was Irving present?" She asked.

Niall nodded his head,"Yea, he was."

"Done with the signing and official stuff?"

"Yep!"

"That's good." She conceded quietly.

"Irving complimented you!" Louis called out to her. She furrowed her eyebrows and smirked ,"Really? What'd he say?"

"He said that you're a natural strategist." Niall told her.  
"Really?" She said with a smile etched on her face and dramatically flipped her hair,"Tell me something I don't know." She laughed.

"You can't sing!" Zayn called out which earned a glare from Niall.

"Well, at least I can do Math!" She screamed back.

To this the entire room reverberated with laughter and Louis' voice declared,"Zayn, she's right!" 

Zayn pouted and crawled into Liam's lap,"Leeyum!" He whined and buried his head in his chest. 

"Cut it off guys!" Liam snapped at them.

"Awww!" Sienna commented from the screen. 

"Go back to Niall, Sienna!" Liam shooed her off and then looked back to Zayn who was on his lap.

"Hey, you're smart and you can sing so very well," Liam mumbled into his ears while playing with his hair. While Liam was so very preoccupied with his boyfriend, Niall had disconnected the call and turned back to the four of his friends.

"I don't like your girlfriend!" Zayn complained.

"I'm sure she thinks the same." Louis commented with a smirk which made Zayn pout and turned back to Liam.

"Say Niall," Harry began,"you really love her, right?"

"A lot." Niall affirmed seriously,"I'm already so annoyed that I didn't see her since three weeks, I don't know how I'll manage tours. I'm kinda dreading it in a way," he elucidated,"I miss her."

"What a sap." Zayn remarked which made Niall retort,"Maybe I should toss Liam to the other side of the state and keep you away for three weeks, we'll see how that'll work out!"

A burst of laughter filled the room while Zayn's expression grew into horror.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

The spotlight was on them, now there was no going back, this interview was the only thing which was being discussed in Azoff offices since the past three days. Zayn was stressed. Liam was stressed. Niall was stressed. HarryandLouis were stressed. Every single person associated with One Direction was stressed. 

There had been so much of hassle since the past two weeks. After they had completed recording and shooting the video, the fire which had been burning due to HarryandLouis' reappearance had calmed down by a bit. There were still people speculating about what had taken place. 

One day before the drop of their first single,'Drag Me Down', they had been in a meeting with Jeff who had asked them, if they wanted to do their first interview with anyone specific,to this all of them gave an immediate answer,"Ellen DeGeneres."

Jeff agreed to their suggestion. It was a smart choice, she was a part of the LGBT too, she had an impressive reputation and she would diffuse the tension in the air with her incredible sense of humor. But that was when Harry intervened,"Jeff, we thought if we could do a live interview with her?"

To which Jeff stayed quiet for a minute, thinking through,"Why?"

"It'd be more realistic." Louis answered. "We would be real with the world. Like we'll be all out, no editing, no lies, nothing."

"Exactly, my point," Jeff addressed the two of them,"What if you don't want something to be there?"

"Harry, Louis, we get it that you're still afraid to trust us," Jeff sighed and looked at them desperately,"but this could be a potential catastrophe."

"If you want more assurance, ask Sienna too, we've worked with her, Kendall and Katy have worked with her and Taylor too, this could be a potential disaster." Jeff said with a nod and added,"Along with that, Ellen doesn't do live shows."

"She might do it for us," Zayn said to his manager,"If we ask nicely, probably."

Jeff sighed and rubbed his temples,"I know this could be either really good or really bad but we wouldn't know for sure."

And eventually they agreed on the live show and after a lot of negotiation, for the first time ever there was a live Ellen Show. 

Live.

Jeff was watching it backstage with Glenne while his dad was glued to the television in his office, Sienna was still in Massachusetts but had promised them, she will be watching and supporting them.

Sighing, the five of them looked at one another, holding hands like children, assuring one another it'll be okay. Looking at one another they gave each other hugs of comfort. "Let's do this boys!" Liam cheered which brought in nods from one another. 

Moving towards the entrance to the stage, Louis' arm was caught by his husband's. "It's gonna be okay. Okay?" He said seriously, cupping his cheeks, Louis just gave into this feel of comfort of Harry's skin. 

"Louis, you don't have to say anything, you don't wanna. Okay?" Harry certained and pulled him into an embrace and kissed his hair. "I love you."

"Harry," Louis iterated and stayed in his embrace for a moment and looked up at him,"You'll always stay, right?"

"Always in your heart." He said kissing his forehead. 

"Oi! The show already started, you idiots!" Niall called the both of them.

"On our way!" Harry called and walked onto the stage with his hand intertwined with Louis' which called for a huge round of applause. 

Taking their seats beside one another and greeting Ellen simultaneously,"Before I begin," she started, turning towards HarryandLouis,"Why were you both late?"

"We," Harry began hesitantly, thought of an excuse but Louis completed,"were having a moment."

This response gained one huge wave of laughter from both the audience and his bandmates,"Told ya!" Liam said.

Exchanging confused looks with one another, Louis turned to Liam,"What's going on?"

"Tell me Louis, Harry," Ellen asked with a smirk on his face,"What moment were you having?"

"A private one?" Louis suggested. 

"Extremely explanative." Ellen said sarcastically and shook her head disapprovingly,"Now I owe Liam five dollars."

"I said that you'll come and tell, you had a moment." Liam informed them. 

"Now," she said with a straight face and turned to the audience,"I formally welcome One Direction to our show!"

The five of them smiled at their host and waved at their audience. 

"I have to admit that I am grateful that the five of you were willing to join us since you're very much in demand, as of now." Ellen said nodding her head.

The five of them smiled at her,"We're happy to be here, Ellen." Niall consented.

"All right," she said taking the white card placed on the table and read out,"the five of you dropped two singles in the past two weeks and took the entire world by a storm." 

"So tell us about that first." She said starting off with a light topic.

"These two songs were made for our fans basically," Liam spoke to whom Niall added,"Yes, there are so many things which have happened in the past few months and even though they were kept in the dark for such a long time, they still support us unconditionally."

Zayn took it over from here carefully spinning the words,"We had to give them something for it and what's a better gift than music?" 

Ellen nodded her head in complete adherence to his statement.

"So you basically wanted to surprise the fans in general?"

They nodded their heads. "They're the best fans in the world to be put through so many things but still love us." Louis iterated again. To which Ellen agreed, as she shook her head and flipped the card,"So Zayn," she said turning her attention towards the black haired beauty. 

"You and Liam," she began giving a suggestive look,"everyone always speculated Larry," she mentioned and as soon as she said that, the crowd roared a set of howls,"I mean everyone secretly shipped Larry, openly or otherwise for sure," Ellen confessed seriously,"I mean even I shipped you guys secretly!" To which Harry and Louis sported a laugh alongside Liam, Zayn and Niall.

"But you guys!" She pointed towards the pair,"Gave us one big surprise!"

"So tell us," Ellen prompted,"how did this happen?"

"Yea," Liam nodded at Zayn and shrugged,"We've been together since the X Factor."

"X Factor?" Ellen questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, the X Factor. We've been with one another." Zayn affirmed and then let Liam narrate how they met and slowly fell in love with Zayn's deep voice, his inner child which came with a layer of ice which he was capable of melting gently with the warmth of his love, his unconditional love and his natural instinct to sacrifice. He just loved the boy with his deep brown orbs and lovely voice. 

Nodding her head, Ellen gave the most natural smile she had ever given, genuinely happy for the pair before her. "Congratulations on your profound love."

She told the two of them who smiled at one another and then asked a very intriguing question,"If you do love him, as much as you do, Zayn." She addressed to him directly,"Why did you leave the band?" 

A cold silence enveloped the entire studio and Zayn closed his eyes for a minute and snapped it open when Liam squeezed his hand. Inhaling a deep breath, he began,"When the European leg of OTRA concluded and we had to start with the American leg of the tour, there was this one particular interview which sparked the Larry rumors to a great extent."

"So our previous management wanted us in more of public attention and wanted to ward off the Larry rumors together." He said breathing heavily. "They wanted Louis to get involved in a scandal. And at that point of time the PR stunts had grown really tiresome for him."

"Even though Niall agreed into some sort of, arrangement," he said with distaste and trailed on,"it wasn't enough. So to change the course of these things, I had a meeting with them and said I'll leave. I bought myself out of the band and I broke it off with Liam." Sighing stressfully, Zayn took a sip of water while Liam rubbed his back and continued,"So I did what I did."

Ellen nodded her head at him,"Did any of you know anything about this?"

"No," Niall's voice said very clearly. "He didn't bother to inform us during it or even after what happened or even after HarryandLouis left."

"Four years and we kept blaming him for everything." Liam confessed. "Absolutely everything. Even though he did everything in his power to avoid the paternity scandal."

"He sacrificed and didn't tell anybody, anything about it." Niall added.

"And that was why the scene at the VMAs occured." Liam continued from Niall. "I was drunk, annoyed and so much in love with him even after that."

"So you thought punching the crap outta the pretty boy was the best idea?" Ellen asked with a smirk. 

"Apparently, he did." Zayn agreed having a grin plastered on his face. "And then Niall helped us to get away from public attention in some room in that club and then Liam was telling me how much he hated me."

"How'd you make him listen to you?" A girl shouted from the crowd before Ellen could even come to it.

"Okay, clearly the crowd is more impatient than I am." She laughed. 

"I sang to him." Zayn smiled which made HarryandLouis' eyes snap in Zayn's direction with furrowed eyebrows and then turned to one another with a smile which followed.

"Which song?"

"I said that I wanted to kill him," Liam chuckled,"and he said he wanted to die in my arms."

"Sky Full Of Stars." Zayn answered.

"You guys are such saps!" Niall announced, shaking his head which caused a tide of giggles in the studio.

"And then we kissed while going back and that was that." Liam completed.

Nodding her head quietly, Ellen turned to "Speaking of kisses," she noted and looked at Harry and Louis,"you both were involved in a very passionate kiss, very recently."

"It wasn't passionate," Louis waved it off,"it was loving?" He asked looking at Harry who nodded enthusiastically,"It was loving and gentle." He supplied.

"Thank you so much for telling us the difference between gentle, loving and passionate." Ellen told them skeptically and continued questioning them.

"That kiss," Louis began brushing his fingers through his hair,"was a moment." He completed sheepishly.

"Okay, Louis, tell me what triggered this moment?" Ellen asked more clearly, to which Harry chuckled. 

"Well, Harry," he started looking up at him, lovingly and smiled at the curly haired muffin who was his husband. And was caught up in a trance in his alluring green eyes. 

"Louis," Harry commenced with a smile,"Ellen asked something."

Shaking his head,"Oh now he comes back. Good Morning Louis, we are still in my studio." Ellen said dryly to which he blushed terribly and nodded his head and sucked on his bottom lip and restarted,"Yea, the kiss was a moment..."

And Ellen had her eyebrows raised and turned to the crowd,"All right Louis, we get it! You don't wanna share it with us!" She announced and everyone burst into a fit of laughter again which made Louis nuzzle his head in Harry's chest.

"Don't embarrass him, Ellen!" Harry scolded with a chuckle. 

"This is so cute that it makes me wanna puke." She muttered in a not so subtle way. "All the time Ellen!" Niall added immediately. 

"Shut up Neil!" Louis tutted playfully jabbing his arm.

"All right," Ellen intervened,"since the two of you are so evidently in love with one another, tell us your story too."

"Not like I haven't already read it on tumblr a million times but do go on." She prompted.

Harry sighed and shook his head,"It began, in the X Factor, the day of the auditions." He started and continued with the same love story which had been recited like a hymn by their fans on tumblr and like a litany on Twitter. 

"I see," she acknowledged and then asked the billion dollar question,"if everything was so perfect, why did the two of you leave?"

"Well, we were under pressure to stay in the closet, it grew very stressful," Harry reasoned with diplomacy seasoned on his answer. He knew even the lads were paying keen attention on this part of the question because Harry assumed they knew why they left, the response was simple because of Modest! but he knew they sensed there was something more to it, certainly, which they weren't really revealing.

"That's why you left?" Ellen prompted extremely subtly hoping for more of a revelation.

"That's not the only reason why we left." Louis attested, making Harry's green eyes looking down at him with worry and his hand immediately flying onto his knee. 

"I was having mental health issues." Louis stated loudly, this brought the attention of probably everybody, not only who were in the studio but also who were watching this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> KUDOS  
> COMMENTS  
> ANYTHING
> 
> JUST DO IT.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

"Mental health?" Ellen iterated.

"I was in depression for more than a year," he admitted with a sigh on live television. "It had begun when OTRA had started when my best friend Stan passed away due to drug abuse, my managers didn't allow Harry to fly down because it would spark rumors again."

"It was pressuring to start tour just three days after Stan's death but we began nonetheless," Louis continued speaking and somewhere around March, I fell sick and we did an interview which instigated many Larry rumors because Haz was looking at me time and again since I was running a fever and then they called us in, to talk about a paternity scandal which was something I did not want to do. That pushed me in further."

"And then Zayn left," he said with a sigh, deliberately not looking at anybody but Ellen. "That worsened it and then I really don't know what happened but I slowly began to come out of it, Haz helped me a lot. In fact, he was the one who identified it as depression, I didn't even realize."

"But as soon as that occurred, they wanted more publicity, more time away from Harry." Louis narrated slowly. "Keeping me away from H, kept worsening the situation so very consistently, I needed his constants presence around me. It wasn't want, it was a need."

"It was the same routine every fucking day, he'd help me up, glue my broken pieces and by the evening I'd break again." He continued by this moment Louis noticed everything in the studio was still and completely motionless, Ellen's expression stoic, she was silent and was patiently listening to everything he said, while he felt the lads' piercing gaze on his face. Harry's fingers which had made their way in between his spaces was the only reassurance he had.

"And then they called me for a private meeting and everything went downhill from that, Harry got to know about these secret meetings which happened before every interview nearly two weeks later by accident." Louis explained elaborately, at this point Louis felt an emotional breakdown heading his way and looked at Harry gesturing him to take over. 

"In the hotel we were staying I noticed blood on his shirt sleeves and when I went down further to investigate I noticed that there were more blood stains so when Lou returned, I made him sit down and asked him about it." Harry said taking over from Louis. "He didn't admit to me at all until I had to threaten him to call Jay and then he told me about this."

"That was such a difficult night, to calm Louis down and make him understand that he needed a therapist to which he negotiated and asked me to put it off until tour ends." Harry said and then shook his head wistfully. "That was honestly the biggest mistake I've ever done and I've never regretted anything more."

"It appeared that Louis was better but he had begun to hide it from me too, I didn't know about this until we had disappeared from the spotlight and moved to Canada," he informed them and went back,"after that there was this one day when I was supposed to be papped with a few girls in LA and that day I got a ring from Louis and he couldn't speak his voice was so hoarse from crying and that was when I made the call of walking out of our lives and leaving everything behind."

"After we reached Canada I slowly began to notice that he had begun to cut his legs." Harry said his voice growing uncomfortable. "I convinced Louis after a very small time period that he certainly needed a psychiatrist and that psychiatrist did arrive at our place with extreme discretion." Harry took a deep breath and drank the glass of water placed on the table.

Louis squeezed his hand and took over,"The psychiatrist elevated the situation to a worse level, I am extremely insecure and he gave me tablets which turned my thought process in the direction of self pity. I began to think I wasn't good enough. I was broken in some sort of sense, I didn't deserve him. I thought the worst of the worst things and I shouldn't be with Harry."

As his revelations grew, the grim expression on Ellen's face evolved much more. "And then an absolute worse thing happened, I didn't want to confront psychiatrist because I had overheard him speaking to H telling that rehab would be the best for my condition. One place I really did not wanna go."

"Since I didn't want to meet the psychiatrist, the night before, I locked myself inside our room which had no windows and I moved a cupboard to the door to make sure that Harry didn't intervene," Louis addressed with a heavy sigh and pushed himself to continue while Harry shot his head back on the sofa,"I locked myself in for over six hours and ignored Harry's screams and shouts for over so long. He was banging the door and he was crying but I was so scared of going to the rehabilitation that I ignored all of it. I didn't want to leave him."

Harry piped into the conversation again with his cheeks wet,"If anyone would ask me what dying felt like, I would tell that was it. Those six hours were the worst six hours of my entire life. I died at that moment." He intervened, letting Louis catch a breath and reign his emotions.

"And then finally, he sang to me, there was this one song he had written it himself, it was called Sweet Creature,he was hiccuping through the entire thing, crying and that song woke me up." Louis confessed with tears brimming in his eyes. "I opened the door and he was sitting there on the floor with his guitar beside him."

"Even after that he never ever made me feel that I did something wrong," Louis sniffed with tears rolling down his cheeks. "He has legit hugged me while I screamed and pushed him when I had nightmares."

"He has bore with every single stupid thing I put up. I am absolutely not worth so much of hassle in any respect and he didn't complain once about anything and I don't think I could ever thank God enough for letting me to be a part of his life." Louis said and wiped his tears with his shirt sleeve but the flow of water just didn't halt there. 

"Louis are you all right?" Ellen asked concerned, to the boy his head was bent but his entire body was shaking.  
Harry's attention turned to his supposed 'boyfriend',"Could we cut in for a commercial?" He asked her immediately, she nodded her head and as soon as they did, Louis' arms went around Harry's body and his head darted into his chest who's embrace enveloped him immediately and poured his tears on his shirt. 

"I think you should move backstage." Their host suggested which they did, moving back into their dressing room. Harry immediately cleaned the entire room of the people until him and Louis were alone.  
Louis had his head buried in Harry's chest and continued to cry uncontrollably while his husband rubbed his back and patted his soft hair alternatively."Louis, sweetheart, breathe for me. Gently." He encouraged slowly kissing the top of his head and maneuvering his chin to lift his face to peer into his eyes which were shedding tears.

"Slow and steady." He chanted and very lightly made Louis balance his own body weight and held Louis hands and breathed, "Slowly," he repeated carefully and like sunrise after dawn, Louis' crying stopped and began to calm his breathing. Harry's voice had reigned him in the most delicate way possible with love. 

"I love you." Louis declared. "I love you so much."

"I love you more Lou." Harry said taking a step forward towards him and kissed his forehead and made him sit on the chair handing him fruit tart.

A few minutes later when he was rest assured that Louis was out of the emotional trance, he cupped his cheek and licked the chocolate off his lips which made Louis giggle.

The innocent giggle, brought Harry back to life. Smiling at his husband,Louis took his hands and kissed the back of both of them,"Harry," he began taking the last bite of the fruit tart,"let's continue with the show." He said with a nod.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked moving closer to him on his sofa."We can skip the rest if you can't sweetheart." He said to him and kissed his forehead while slowly tracing his cheek with his lips.

"Nobody is forcing you." He said and kissed his chin, knowing that his gestures were soothing him more.  
"Harry," he said slowly touching him and moving over to touch his lips with his fingers ghosting over his his chin,"I wanna do this. This is the place we belong. This is where we are supposed to be. We can't hide this any longer. I want the world to know about the amount of things that they did to us." Louis said and kissed his forehead, rubbing his temples and playing with his curls simultaneously.

"Sure?" 

"As much as I've been when I married you."

When they opened the door, Harry saw Jeff standing right before them and worriedly questioned,"Is he all right?"

"He is fine." Harry assured.

"Are you sure?" Jeff questioned. "I've called in a medical team. Are you sure he doesn't need-"

"Christ!" Louis swore immediately from the periphery. 

"I'm fine Jeffery. I'm willing to continue the interview."  
"Come on!" He said enthusiastically.

"You don't have to do this." Jeff cut him off. "You guys need to realize my management company isn't gonna force you to get out there to get fucking publicity, I know you're voices can do that! I'm not going to risk my client's health for it!" He announced clearly.

"And we're glad about that!" Louis said keeping his hand on his shoulder. "That's why we're doing this."

Jeff exchanged looks with Glenne and turned to the pair,"Are you sure?" His girlfriend asked. "We can walk out right now and nobody will tell you anything, we can handle it." She assured them with a hand on Harry's arm.

"It's his call Glenne, I can do it. And I will if it is his will." Harry smiled trying to banish their ascertaining expressions away.

"Now let's go find Zayn," Louis declared holding a cupcake in one hand and a water bottle in the other,"the drama queen must've blamed everything on himself and he would be an ocean of tears now!" He joked and moved to search for his band mate. 

"It was all because of me Liam," a sniff came down to Louis' ear when he walked into their changing room. 

"Yea. Yea. Definitely. If you had ever used your pea sized brain and actually spoken to us instead of running off to make offer yourself as sacrifice to Satan, we'd have been happier." Louis stated and shoved the cupcake into his hand."Of course that's what you're thinking about. Because you're stupid, you hideous idiot."

"I really wanna whack your head off for your stupidity," Louis said looking into Zayn's brown orbs in all seriousness,"but I don't blame it on you Zee. I never did. It was Modest!, Simon and all the other people who made me and you and Harry and Liam and Niall do the shit we did not certainly want to do." He chanted nodding his head comically to make sure Zayn's tears had stopped and he put his head in Zayn's lap and nudged him,"Zayn, you'll always remain my brother and nothing can change that. No force in the universe. I should've known you better and that was my fault." He said honestly with a loving squeeze on his hand. "We're back and that's all that matters."

Zayn was staring at Louis on his lap who had tilted his head off his lap and was staring his electrically shivering blue into his whiskey brown eyes and gave a sigh of reluctance and turned to Liam. "All of us are going to sit down and have a very elaborate conversation about this!" Liam announced and stood up abruptly, holding out his hand to Zayn. "Come on, we have an interview to finish." He added and kissed on top of his forehead. 

"Can you do it?" Harry asked quietly to his band mate. Zayn took a bite from raspberry cupcake Louis had brought and nodded,"I can."

After eating the entire cupcake, Zayn stood up and kissed Louis' cheek,"We're still having the conversation!" He pouted to which Louis nodded in acknowledgement and embraced his brother. 

"Let's leave, there is only so much Niall can handle single handedly." Zayn laughed even though he knew Niall was there for less that ten minutes. The others nodded in agreement and moved tothe stage together.

***

***

After the commercial ended, the five of them were introduced again with an extra empty sofa towards their right. 

Smiling at the camera, Ellen turned back to them,"Are the four of you all right now?"

"Yes," they chorused together with a smile.

"That's good." She appreciated and gave a small smile,"Let's begin where we left off, if you're comfortable?"

"Yea!" Louis nodded with Harry's hand pulsing against his in assurance and Niall's arm around Louis for certainty.

"So did you go to a rehab after what occurred?" She questioned him.

Louis shook his head,"No, I didn't. Harry didn't let me. In fact he fired all the psychiatrists and began figuring it out himself to bring me out of it which mind you," he said with a raised eyebrow,"he did. He was taking advices from so many mental health doctors, therapists but he'd do only what I could take. It was his own figured out kinda therapy which he crafted and it helped me better than the talking and the tablets given by any doctor." 

"And they worked. He caught my hand and gently pulled me back into the garden which the last time I checked, that garden was called life." Louis said with a smile. 

Ellen nodded in understanding,"That was some bravery, the two of you exhibited and I think you deserve a round of applause for that."

Nodding their heads in adherence and glancing at Ellen agreeing to her statement. 

It was over. It had concluded. The truth was out in the open and they were _free_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> KUDOS  
> COMMENTS   
> ANYTHING!
> 
> One more chapter and it's a wrap.


End file.
